Harry Potter and the Veela Gambit
by Sharptooth
Summary: AU Twenty years after the final battle, Harry Potter is hidden in a pub far from England. A young woman enters the pub and turns his entire existence inside out. Harry must face an old foe to save a woman he once loved. Harry/Gabrielle
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything other than the story line . All rights belong to J.K. Rowling

**Harry Potter and the Veela Gambit**

**Chapter One: Veate**

If a person wanted to disappear, yet still have some semblance of civilization, then one of the most perfect places to do so was the sleepy port town of Dutch Harbor. Located on the island of Unalaska, part of a string of islands in the Bering Sea between Alaska and Russia, it was a den for those who didn't want to be noticed.

Home to the crab fishing fleet of the Bering Sea, as well as a small naval base, Dutch Harbor was also home to just over four thousand unique individuals, most of whom had fled from some other life in an attempt to be left alone. Many of these people had something or someone in their past that was best left there, only as a memory of things before.

It was also home to a grand total of three bars, each of which were frequent hangouts for the members of the before mentioned fleet. One of these was a small pleasant establishment by the name of the Gilded Lily Pub. The sign above the entry sported a golden lily blossom in front of a set of silver antlers. It really didn't look like much from the outside. The paint was in desperate need of re-coating, and the walls were in a state of constant disrepair.

On this particular evening, late into January, and well into the opilio crab season, the snow was falling on the town. The air was so chilled that the snow was extremely dry and crunched under the boots of those who dared to venture out on their various errands. Despite that, anyone who passed the pub saw the soft glow of welcoming light from the windows, inviting one and all to partake of the different chemical delights within.

Inside the lighting was soft and the atmosphere pleasant. The pub was decked out in crimson and gold, a beautiful color scheme for the losing of one's self in the ambiance of the place. Banners of different British football teams were hung across the walls. A large billiard table sat in the middle of the room, booths and tables all around. It was sparsely populated on this night, the weather a definite factor, truth be told.

The pub tender really didn't seem to mind the small crowd though. He stood behind the long bar idly wiping down a series of mugs. A small smile was across his face and he seemed to take refuge in the simple motion of cleaning the heavy glass. His lean frame, messy black hair with just a few strands of gray, and his thick round wire framed glasses gave him an air that set people at ease.

He had been here in Dutch Harbor for the better part of twenty years now, living under an assumed name. Little did the residents of the sleepy harbor town know that they had the savior of the wizarding world tending pub in their midst. If he were asked though, that was just the way that Harry Potter liked things. Here he didn't have to worry about whether or not someone liked him for his fame. Here he didn't have to worry about screaming fan-girls throwing themselves at him hoping to snare the 'Man-Who-Won' with a baby.

He looked over at the pub's bouncer, Vashram Singh. The gigantic Indian man looked as if he could move a mountain just by thinking about it. He moved with an athletic grace possessed by few of his physique. Very few people ever argued with Singh. He tended to discourage those that might think to do so.

Harry thought back to when he had hired Singh. He had read about trying this in a novel he had 'acquired' while on the horcrux hunt with Hermione and Ron. He had made sure to have all the tables securely fastened to the floor. When the prospective bouncers had come into the pub to be hired Harry had set one task for them: move the table.

Singh had casually reached down and grabbed the top of the table and pulled to move it. A small look of surprise passed over his face when the table refused to co-operate with him. He looked at the offending piece of furniture and then gave a small shrug. He tugged again and with a screech of tearing metal bolts the table gave way and he set it over a few feet. He looked at Harry and apologized for the initial difficulty in complying with his request. With a grin Harry asked him if he could start that same night.

The small sound of a bell ringing alerted him to the fact that someone had opened the entrance to the pub. As he looked up he was met with a blast of cold arctic air as some of the outside storm swirled in with the visitor. He waited for the door to close and the stranger to step into the lighting so that he could get a good look at him.

He quickly reassessed the visitor. Her, definitely a female, the visitor moved slowly into the room, her head swinging gracefully around to take in her surroundings. Even under the heavy parka that she wore she was unmistakably female. Coming out from under the winter coat were a long, shapely set of legs covered in some form-fitting type of material. The leggings disappeared down into a set of calf-high boots, complete with three inch heals. Heads turned as she walked gracefully towards the bar.

Harry cocked his head towards her as she approached. Something in the way that she moved reminded him of someone. All eyes watched her as she passed. As she approached Harry became aware of a slight pull at his perceptions. This too was quite familiar, Harry had felt this before, though if his thoughts were correct the pull was much softer than it should be.

Harry allowed his perceptions to expand to take in the entire bar. There, on many of the faces was what he expected to see: desire and naked lust. As he was busy recognizing the looks the woman had started to pull down the hood from her parka. Harry stood frozen as a face from his past approached him.

As she got nearer though, Harry could see subtle differences from the face that he remembered. This one was thinner, and the cheek bones were positioned slightly differently and the nose was a little off.. Also the eye color was definitely not the same. These eyes were disarmingly green whereas the ones that he remembered were the loveliest shade of blue. He quickly concluded that it was probably a close relative given that she looked to be quite a bit younger than the woman that he remembered would be.

She came straight up to the bar and looked him squarely in the eyes. There was no joy in that gaze that seemed to penetrate him and find him lacking. When she opened her mouth to speak it was in a delightfully soft soprano that the voice came out. Several of the patrons let out sighs as she spoke.

"Hello Harry, I am Veate Delacour, and I have come a very long ways to meet you."

Harry smiled warmly at her. It was not returned. "You must be Gabrielle's daughter," he said, hoping she didn't notice the catch in his voice as he spoke to her.

She nodded. "Yes I am, and you, Harry Potter, are my father…"

*0*0*

Veate sat in what was admittedly a very comfortable chair and thought. She was surprised at her reactions tonight. She had come here hoping to catch her father off guard. She had wanted to see what he was really like, and it was always easier if the person was on the defensive. Unfortunately for her, and unlike what her mother had told her about him, this Harry Potter didn't seem to go on the defensive.

She could tell that it had startled him when she had revealed to him that she was his daughter. There was a brief moment when his eyes had widened slightly giving him away, yet he recovered almost instantly. He had smiled at her and set down the mug that he had been polishing.

He had regarded her for a few moments before he had flashed her a brilliant smile. It almost seemed that he was happy to see her. _But that would disrupt the image that you have cultivated of him being an uncaring bastard _her inner voice said to her. _Much more difficult to hate someone who is so intensely happy to have you around._

She clamped down on the inner debate. It was true that she had wanted to hate her father, after all, he wasn't there when she was growing up. Her mother had told her that it wasn't his fault, after all, she hadn't told him that she was pregnant. That fact hadn't really mattered to Veate. She had wanted in the worst way to believe that he was an arrogant prick, but he didn't seem like she had imagined.

She had looked coldly at him as he smiled. "I need to talk to you. It's about Mother," she said. He had nodded and held up one finger to her. He walked over to a box on the all and pressed a button.

"Yeah Hank?" came a voice from the box.

"Hey Freddie," Harry said softly. "Got a visitor and something's come up. Could you come down and tend pub for a while?"

"Sure thing, let me turn off the stove and I'll be right down." A few minutes later an elderly gentleman appeared from a stairwell and walked over to the bar while wrapping an apron around his waist. He looked at Harry and Veate and smiled.

"Feddie, this is Veate, my daughter," Harry said. "Veate, this is Freddie Sanderson, a good friend of mine. He sometimes takes over here when I have other things that have to be done." He smiled at the older man. "Thanks Freddie, I owe you one."

"Not a problem Hank," he said with a grin. He took Veate's hand and placed a soft kiss on the back of it. "Ma'am," he said with another of his infectious smiles. "A pleasure to meet you," he said softly.

Veate graced him with a beautiful smile. This was a delightful man. She turned to her father and raised a delicate eyebrow. Harry grinned at her and motioned for her to precede him into a back room. She moved to do so and he fell into step next to her. He moved with the ease and grace of a natural predator. She wondered briefly where that thought had come from.

The room that he had brought her into was warm and comfortable. It seemed to be a cross between an office and a den. There was a warm fire crackling in a fireplace, and a large bookshelf adorned one wall. There was a couch, a small day bed, and a desk, as well as a couple of comfortable chairs. It was here that Veate found herself considering the enigma that was her father.

Harry found himself sitting at his desk, considering the young woman across from him. He had no doubt that she was telling the truth when she told him that she was his daughter. It had rocked him to his very core to think that he had a daughter with Gabrielle, let alone one that was this age! He hoped that he hadn't let it show too badly.

Harry pondered Veate. It was obvious that the young woman harbored some very serious issues concerning him, not that he blamed her in the least. After all, he hadn't been there for her when she was growing up. She seemed to be lost in her thoughts at the moment. _Probably contemplating just how to twist the knife _he thought briefly. He leaned back in his chair. The movement seemed to snap her out of her reverie.

"So, tell me about your mother. How is Gabrielle?" he said, hoping that he didn't sound too desperate.

"She's missing," Veate replied. "I think that she's been kidnapped." This brought Harry up short. He sat bolt upright.

"Tell me everything that you know," he said, his voice becoming very intense.

**Author's Note: **I know that I ended the chapter rather abruptly, but I've been having a very difficult time with the website this weekend, and I wanted to get this in. Let me know what you think thus far.

For this story to work, I am using the movie version of Gabrielle Delacour. In the move "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" Gabrielle was a first year at Beauxbatons, and was therefore 11 years old rather than 8 years old as she was in the books. Please keep that in mind as you read the story...


	2. Recall

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything other than the story line . All rights belong to J.K. Rowling

**Chapter Two: Recall**

"Tell me everything that you know," he said, his voice becoming very intense.

"A few days ago I decided to visit _Ma Mere_ at her flat in London. She had been there for a few years now, as she came into a small amount of money and purchased the flat outright." Harry nodded for her to continue. "Anyway, I apparated to London from our ancestral home in France and made my way to her flat. The first thing that I noticed was that the wards seemed off."

"Explain please," Harry said quietly, yet he left no room for argument.

"Her wards are the best that money can buy, but they seemed, I guess the best word to describe them would be… sloppy. Usually when I visit I get a very specific tingling sensation when I pass through the wards. This time the feeling was different. It wasn't as… subtle. Does that make sense?" she asked.

Harry nodded. "Yeah, it makes sense. Many wards are like that. My own are that way. Did you notice them when you came in?"

"No, not at all. I wondered about it briefly, but it seemed to pass from my mind."

"They're designed that way. If you had noticed them then I would have failed in my job. I don't like to fail." Harry looked at his daughter and gave her a small, lop-sided grin. "Please continue…"

"It took a few moments for the wards to recognize me and grant me access. It seemed that everything was in slow motion, as if a sticking charm had been applied." She searched for the words. "I can't really describe it. It just didn't feel right."

"So what did you find when you went in?"

"It looked as if she had left in a hurry. There was evidence of her having just sat down to eat dinner, and yet she was nowhere to be found. A chair in the den was toppled over. All of her clothes were still in the bedroom closet. However, the thing that convinced me the most that she had been kidnapped was this." She pulled out a wand. Harry recognized it immediately. It was a ten or eleven inch, ornately crafted wand made of very light colored beech.

"Gabrielle's wand," he whispered. "Beech with the hair of a dryad, excellent for nature charms."

Veate nodded, impressed despite herself that her father would know this minor detail about her mother. She tried desperately to shut down the nagging little doubt that she could, just possibly, be wrong in some of her more base assumptions concerning the man.

"Your mother lived alone?" Harry asked.

"Yes, despite having had a few lovers over the years, she never co-habited with anyone. She would always answer queries concerning her living habits with the response that her heart belonged to someone else who couldn't be with her. She always held out hope that _you _would return…" She spat the last out with a vehemence that surprised even her. Harry seemed to take it in stride though, as if he thought that he definitely deserved it.

"She never told me," Harry whispered. He looked straight at her. "I never knew that there was anything more than that one night. It was _so_ long ago." He let out a sigh.

"So your mother raised you alone? She never found someone to be with her?" He looked at her somewhat skeptically. "She's an exceptionally beautiful woman."

Veate scoffed. "Of course she's a beautiful woman, she's a veela," she hissed. "It's our blessing and our curse. We're trapped in these perfect bodies, always desired yet never really known. We can have anyone that we want, yet we are very discerning in who we give our love to.

"We're bred to be playthings, did you know that? We were created with dark magic, intended to be the sexual toys of power hungry wizards. Veela were always meant to be enslaved, with no more rights than a common rat. Your own ministry considers us to 'creatures of near human intelligence'.

"We are feared and desired more than any other magical beings. Did you know that most veela die of violent causes? Eventually we say the wrong thing to the wrong person, scorn the psychopath who ends up taking our lives. This is the existence that I was brought into by my mother. She could have easily aborted me, _father_, yet her love for you made her keep me." She sat back, fighting to hold off the tears that threatened to come.

Harry steepled his fingers. "Did your mother ever tell you how she came about having you?" Veate shook her head no. "I'm surprised. Did you never ask?"

"Of course I did! Don't you think that I'd want to know?" she fired back at him.

"Well, let me fill in your education, my _dear daughter_," he said sarcastically. He sat back for a moment considering how to proceed. "Firstly, let me apologize for that. You took me by surprise today, and I shouldn't let my emotions get the better of me.

"When Ron, Hermione and I were searching for a way to destroy Voldemort we ran into a big spot of trouble. Voldemort had placed a taboo on his name, so that if anyone said it then his snatcher teams could home in on it and capture whoever said it. It was in this manner that he captured and killed many members of the Order of the Phoenix. We were the only ones who regularly said his name, as Dumbledore had continually reminded us to fear the name was to give the holder more power.

"Anyway, I stupidly said his name and suddenly we were surrounded by wizards, all out to do us harm. Hermione used a stinging hex on my face to disguise me, and we surrendered. We were seriously outnumbered and dreadfully young at that time. They took us to Malfoy Manor, there to turn us over to Voldemort himself.

"Luckily the Dark Lord wasn't there. Bellatrix LeStrange and Lucius Malfoy tortured Hermione with the cruciatus curse to get information from us. It was one of my worst moments ever. Ron and I were trapped in a dungeon below. We could hear her screams yet we were powerless to do anything. So a house elf named Dobby ended up rescuing us. As we escaped Bellatrix killed Dobby with a dagger. We ended up at Shell Cottage, where your mother and her sister Fleur were staying." He took a moment to pour a couple of glasses of congac, handing one to her.

After taking a sip he continued. "While we were there I was at my lowest point of the war. Everything was looking bleak, and I had just lost yet another friend to Death Eaters. Add in that my best friend had been brutally tortured, and you get the idea. I took to hiding in my room, brooding in the dark.

"This is where your mother came in. She had been staying there with her sister and brother-in-law. It had some of the best wards in England, as Bill and Fleur both worked for Gringott's bank, and Bill was a curse breaker. I was seventeen at the time so I guess Gabrielle was… fourteen. She came to visit me in my room one night. I had locked the door, but your mother was… resourceful. I didn't want anything to do with anyone, but she would hear none of it.

"I guess that she felt that she owed me something because had I insisted upon rescuing her during the Tri-Wizard Tournament when I was fourteen and she was eleven. I told her point blank that she didn't owe me a thing. It was the absolute wrong thing to say. She broke down in tears. Apparently she had been worried sick over me, and she couldn't handle my rejection.

"I had no real experience with women at that time. I had dated Ginny for a couple of months, and I had one disastrous date with Cho Chang. Here was one of the most beautiful young women I had ever seen, weeping on my shoulder. I did the best that I could to comfort her.

"When she turned on her charm I stood no chance. Of course, thinking back on it I guess that I didn't really want to resist all that much. Your mother showed me the only love and affection that I had received in almost a year. I had never really had much love in my life, and Ginny was really more of a fan-girl than anything else. Gabrielle taught me more about love that night than I had ever learned before.

"The next day I left to fulfill my destiny. I never saw your mother again, though I looked for her for a few days. I was a wreck after the final battle. So many people died because of me. I had to leave. I helped Neville to set up the training center, and then I liquidated some assets and came here. I've been here ever since."

He wiped away a solitary tear that had made its way down his cheek. "For what it's worth, your mother is the only woman I've ever been with."

Veate looked at him and had to work to close her mouth. To her such a thing was starkly unthinkable. _The _Harry Potter, the savior of everything, had lived a celibate life after her mother? Surely he had to be lying. She looked at him closely, but could see no sign of dishonesty in his gaze.

"But…"

"No. I've kissed Ginny Weasley and Cho Chang. I've received kisses from Hermione Granger and your aunt Fleur. I've been hugged by a few witches, but other than that there has just been your mother."

He stood up. "Come on, we've got a few things to do before we can go and get your mother." He reached out and gently helped her from the chair. She was surprised at how soft his touch was. His hands were calloused as if from much physical labor, but he had a very delicate way of handling her.

"Where are we going?" she asked, curiosity getting the better of her.

As he shrugged into a fur lined parka, he turned to look at her. "We're going over to the Muggle military base. I have a friend there that will let me use one of his communications rooms. I need to make some calls."

They made their way slowly across town. It really wasn't that much of a walk, less than half a kilometer. Harry said something to the guard on duty, and shortly thereafter he had two visitor passes to get onto the base.

He led her down into the basement of one of the smaller buildings. There they met a small thin man in a military uniform. The fact that the uniform was very unkempt and rumpled didn't escape her notice. He had a pair of very thick glasses on his face, which was covered in a thick layer of acne. Various condiment stains could be seen across his torso. Veate resisted the urge to wiper her hands on her clothing.

Harry took two chairs into a cubicle. There was a Muggle machine in there, with a helmet and a pair of strange looking gloves, all of which had wires attached to them. Harry motioned for her to sit down and make herself comfortable.

He donned the strange looking gear and then flicked a finger. A shimmering green display lit up in the air around them. Veate gasped audibly. Harry started pointing and gesturing with his hands, his head cocked at a strange angle. He was saying something very low and indistinct. Veate couldn't quite make out his mumblings.

The scene changed numerous times in the air, as Harry continued his strange ethereal dance. After about a half hour her father finally stopped. He shut down the display and took off the gloves and helmet. His forehead was lined with sweat, his scar standing out vividly.

"Doing that always tires me," he said softly.

"Just what were you doing?" she asked.

"The Muggles have a network that they call the internet. There are various ways to access it, but this is by far the most efficient way. There are literally billions of pieces of information out there, just waiting to be looked at. I gathered different pieces of that information, looking for trends and specific key happenings that might be related to your mother's disappearance. I found a few leads. We'll discuss them later."

He then pulled out a small mirror. "Kingsley Shacklebolt," he said into it. A few moments later a very surprised black man's face appeared in the mirror.

"Harry Potter?" the man rumbled in a deep bass voice. "It's been about twenty years."

"Hello Shack, yes, it has been about that long. Look Kingsley, I'm going to have to return to England, and I wanted to meet with you before I got down to business. I'm coming out of retirement for this, and I'm going to activate the Legionnaires. I have to put some affairs in order and then we're leaving. Can we meet tomorrow, say for afternoon tea?"

"Of course Harry, anything for you. Should I contact the Legion?"

"No, I'll take care of that. You just be there for tea. Your office?"

"Certainly. I look forward to seeing you again after all these years. You used the word we. Are you bringing someone?"

Harry looked over at Veate, his eyebrow raised. She shrugged. He turned back to the mirror and Shacklebolt. "Yeah, my daughter. You'll like her Shack, she's a lot like her mother." Veate wondered at his casual words to this Shacklebolt person. He didn't seem like he was trying to win her favor with words of praise. They had come to him so easily, and she had heard the pride in his voice as he spoke of her. How could he be like that after just meeting her? After she had been the way she had towards him? Who was this enigma of a man that was her father? To her surprise she found herself wanting to learn more about him.

"I'll see the two of you then. I can't wait to meet her. Shacklebolt out."

"Potter out," Harry replied. As the mirror went back to being a mirror Harry pulled a coin out of his pocket. He tapped it with his wand, looked at it for a moment and grinned. He put the coin back in his pocket.

They went out of the cubicle. Harry looked at the untidy attendant. The man smiled a silly grin and wavered slightly. He staggered away after a moment. Veate looked at her father with a confused expression on her face.

He was quiet until they left the base, then he started to explain. "There are three basic schools of thought when it comes to magic, call them colleges. The first college is the thaumatergies. These are your basic magics, charms, ensorcelments, illusions and the like. Included in these are mind based magics. The second college would be the elemental magics. These are pretty much self explanatory, though they also include light and darkness, the celestial magics as it were. The third college is known as the entities. These are dark magics, necromancy and summoning magic."

"I've always been good at the first college. Voldemort specialized in the third. These two colleges are diametrically opposed to each other. Since there was a piece of him in my head, he was acting as a barrier to my abilities. Since he's been gone, my ability with the thaumatergies has grown quite a bit." He looked at her for a moment. "I simply used a small amount of magic to make him forget that we were there. For most thaumatergies I don't need to use a wand."

She nodded. It made sense when she stopped and thought about it. She knew that her father was powerful. She was quite powerful as well, and she had to get it somewhere. Her mother was powerful in her own right, but much of her power came from her veela heritage.

*0*0*

They were met at the Ministry atrium by a man dressed in a plain black body suit and a black robe with red and gold trim. On the breast was a patch with red crossed wands over the golden letters PL. It was a matching outfit to the one that her father now wore. She had asked him about it. He had replied that it was the duty uniform of an active member of Potter's Legion.

She'd heard of the Legion of course, everyone had. They were the elite of the elite. If you needed a bodyguard, or someone to accomplish an impossible job you hired a Legionnaire. Originally they had been called Dumbledore's Army. The originals had been personally trained by Harry himself, though it was rumored that one of the originals now did the training.

They followed the young man into the lift. As it was taking them to the first floor Harry turned and looked at his fellow Legionnaire. "What's your name, son?"

"Wilkins sir, Stacy Wilkins." Veate could have sworn the man gulped.

"You move well, Wilkins," Harry replied. Veate stared hard at the man. The fact that she was there and he had paid no notice to a veela in the lift with them spoke volumes. He was obviously in awe of her father. Then the unbelievable happened. _Morganna's left tit_, he blushed. He actually blushed from the top of his head, all the way down to his hands… She looked back at her father. He simply shrugged.

They were led into the office of the Minister for Magic. The black man with the rumbling voice was there. When he stood up Veate was impressed with just how imposing the man really was. This was a man who was used to power, and to being in charge.

"Harry," the man said with a huge smile as he moved across the room to pick her father up in a huge bear hug. When he set him down he regarded him for a moment. He then turned his attention to Veate.

"Kingsley Shackelbolt, might I introduce Veate Delacour, my daughter." The black man raised an eyebrow and then smoothly recovered. He took her hand and kissed it.

"A great pleasure to meet you miss Delacour. Would you be any relation to Fleur Delacour?" he asked.

"My aunt," she replied. He nodded. She could almost see the wheels spinning in her head. This was _not _a stupid politician. He was a very sharp man. She would have to tread lightly around him.

"Fleur and I were both members of the Order of the Phoenix," he said in way of explanation. "So, Harry, what can I do for you?"

Harry pulled out a chair so that Veate could sit. After she had done so he sat as well. Once the Minister had joined them he began. "Veate's mother has gone missing. We believe that she may have been kidnapped, and we're here to investigate. Since we will be carrying out the investigation in your jurisdiction, I felt that it was courteous to inform you of such."

"Thank you Harry. You said that you were going to activate the Legion. Does that mean you're going to steal away my Director of Magical Law Enforcement?" Kingsley smiled at him.

"I'm afraid so Shack. I need him. Can you spare him for a while?"

"I believe that he has a lot of accrued leave time coming to him. I think that we can manage just fine." He scribbled a note and paper airplane was going out the door in moments. Shortly after a tall gangly redhead poked his head in the door.

"You wanted to see me, boss?" Once he had said it his head whipped around as he noticed who else was in the room. "HARRY!" he yelped. He bolted in and there ensued much back thumping and manly greetings. "I got the message you sent. I wasn't quite expecting you here though. We're activating again? What's up?"

Harry took a moment. "Ron, I'd like you to meet my daughter, Veate." Ron rocked on his heels at the statement.

He looked at her critically. After a moment realization came to his expression. "You're Fleur's niece. She told me about you once. I'm her brother-in-law. It's good to meet you at last." He pulled her into a brief hug. "Welcome to the family."

She couldn't help but smile at him. He was a simple man at heart. Her mother had, of course, told her all about each of the Weasleys. Though Ron wasn't her mother's favorite, she did say that he had overcome a lot to stand with Harry at the end.

*0*0*

They had gone to a hotel that Harry had booked the top floor of. As they waited Harry and Ron were taking the time to get reacquainted. It had been almost twenty years since they had been in contact with each other. Veate smiled at the quiet intensity that their banter had revealed about their friendship. Here were two best mates reconnecting. If it hadn't been for the fact that her mother was out there somewhere she would have enjoyed it much more.

"What are we waiting for, _father_," she said, a little more hotly than she had intended. Ron raised an eyebrow at her.

"For the rest of the group to show up," Harry responded easily. "Don't fret, it will only be a short time longer. I gave them rather specific instructions." As he said it the doorbell rang. "Ron, would you get that please?"

Ron got up and moved easily to the door. He drew his wand and held it low but ready as he slowly opened the door. There were three women and one very large man there. They were all dressed in the same outfit as her father and Ron. Their eyes twinkled with joy when they saw the occupants of the room. The rest of her father's pack had arrived…

**Author's Note: **If you haven't realized it this story is a tribute to one of my favorite authors. I'll not reveal who it is, I leave it to you, my faithful readers to reason who as the story continues. I felt that it was the perfect vehicle for a Harry/Gabrielle romance. Up next, the reunion and then the investigation begins in earnest. Hope you're enjoying it as much as I'm enjoying writing it.

Sharptooth


	3. Lessons in Life

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything other than the story line . All rights belong to J.K. Rowling

**Chapter Three: Lessons in Life**

The rest of her father's pack had arrived…

Veate watched in awe as they came into the room. They didn't so much move as… well, flowed. The grace that they each moved with left her amazed. The only other time that she had seem someone move with that much ease was her father, but then, he had trained these people.

They each greeted Ron at the door, and then they moved into a sort of natural pecking order. First up was a slender brunette. She had somewhat bushy brown hair that fell to her shoulder blades in rather unkempt curls, and her eyes were a rich brown color. She moved with a grace that reminded Veate of a feline predator on the hunt. Every step was exact, measured so that she knew exactly where she was in relation to everything else in the room.

She got to Harry and greeted him with an angelic smile. Her father was immediately engulfed in a rib-cracking hug, and she brushed her lips against his cheek. "Harry," she said breathily.

"Hermione," her father replied as he picked her up and spun her around effortlessly. "Merlin, but I've missed you. How are Hamish and Lily?" he asked as he set her down again.

She chuckled. It was a rich, husky sound. "You know very well the Minister is doing just fine, as is his wife. They send their regards, and an admonishment that you had very well better have a good reason for robbing them of their chief bodyguard and Under-Secretary."

"Well, since I got him the job in the first place…" Harry chuckled. He motioned for her to have a seat. Somehow more plush chairs had appeared in the room while Veate's attention was elsewhere. She hadn't seen her father pull his wand. When had he had the opportunity to conjure them? She shook her head. The next one was waiting for her father.

This was the enormous man that she had seen. He seemed to be made of solid muscle. He moved with the surety of immense power, but his face was soft and humble. He had to be almost six and a half feet tall, and probably topped out around twenty to twenty-one stone. He looked like he could take on a giant bare-handed.

He grasped Harry's hand, but quickly found himself pulled into a hug by her father. "Neville. I'm glad you could make it. Who's running the show?"

"Padma," he answered easily. "She's practically my right hand anyway, and she's needed the chance to show what she can do without my hovering over her. "Don't worry, she's the best to do this, boss."

"Oh, I'm not worried. She's the only one close to Hermione's brainpower that isn't in this room, so she'd have been my choice as well. No worries Neville. We get by, we get by…"

"You always did say that, boss. It's good to have you back. Are you going to come and visit the island when we're done?" Neville looked at him, gauging what his reaction might be.

"I haven't decided yet. If everything goes well, then probably yes, I'll come out and make an appearance. Maybe it will inspire the recruits."

"More likely scare the Hell out of them," a small redheaded woman said from behind Neville. She stepped around the bigger man and jumped into Harry's arms, practically welding her lips to his in a passionate kiss.

Veate's eyebrows went up as she watched this. Her father's face went beet red, and he carefully extricated himself from her embrace. "Ginny, be careful," he whispered. He motioned with his head towards a slightly larger woman with hair that was so blond that it was almost pure white. "What would your girlfriend say?" he continued.

"She'd say that you're the only other person that I get to kiss like that," the redhead responded happily. "By the gods, Harry, I'm so glad that you've come back. We've missed you. We've been traveling, trying to find some of Luna's wonderful creatures, but it hasn't been the same. You need to stick around for a while this time."

"I know Ginny, I know," Harry admitted sheepishly. He turned to the last arriving member of the group. "Luna Lovegood. I'm glad that you've been keeping my old sweetheart from making her reputation even more tarnished. How are you? I must say that you're looking quite good."

The blonde laughed whole-heartedly. "I'm doing well, Harry Potter. Ginny keeps me entertained, and well sated. She's voracious, my Ginny." She smiled warmly at the redhead.

Harry motioned for them all to sit. After they had done so, he motioned towards Veate. "Guys, this is Veate Delacour, Fleur's niece and my daughter." Hermione looked like she had just swallowed her own tongue. Ginny and Neville both gave out loud gasps, but Luna just sat there with an appraising look on her face.

"Yes, she does look like you Harry, congratulations." She turned to Veate. "Hello Ms. Delacour. You would be Gabrielle's daughter?" When Veate nodded she continued. "That explains a lot actually. When Harry left Gabrielle got very sad. She knew that he had to fulfill his destiny, but she was more devastated than we had thought would be normal for her. That she was carrying his child makes it all fit together. It also explains why she disappeared shortly after Harry finished his quest. I assume that she found out she was pregnant?"

"Yes," Veate answered. "She went back home to France to stay with grand-mere and grand-pere. She felt very guilty over what she had done to him. She always felt that she had taken advantage of him when he was at his weakest. She never wanted to burden him with me."

"What?" exclaimed Harry. "Veate, please…" Harry got up and exited the room into the bedroom. Veate looked confusedly at the rest of them. Hermione let out an exasperated sigh.

"You have to understand your father," she said softly. "Harry never knew either of his parents. They were killed when he was very young and he was left on his relatives' door-step." Veate nodded. She knew this, _Merlin_, everyone knew the story of Harry Potter now. It had leaked to the press, adding to the legend of the Man-Who-Conquered.

"The point is," she continued, "that Harry would have done anything to have a family. It was the one thing that he wanted more than anything else in his life. It was the one thing that he never had, and the one thing that he desired above all else. I know Harry, and I can tell you this. You, Veate, will never be considered a burden to your father. To him you are the most precious thing on the earth. There is nothing else more important to him, he is simply incapable of thinking any other way."

Veate sat back, clearly stunned. She knew that her mother thought of her that way, but to think that her father, the man who was never there, would have wanted her as well… it destroyed her preconceived notions completely and utterly. For the first time in years she found herself overwhelmed with the enormity of it all.

"The thing of it is," Neville started, "the boss tried to find your mum, but she had disappeared. He didn't know where to look, and quite truthfully your aunt didn't help him. She told him that Gabrielle had left, but she didn't offer any other information. Harry was devastated. I think that he really did love your mum, even though he didn't know how to express it."

"The only love Harry ever got growing up was from us, well and Gabrielle," said Ginny. I had wondered why he didn't want to get back together with me after the war. Now I know. She had captured his heart." She looked at Veate. "Your mother must be quite a woman. Nothing less could do that to Harry."

"I… I don't know," Veate admitted. "I pride myself on the fact that I'm very good at reading people, but he's very hard to read. He's so poised, so closed off. He's been so in control of himself most of the short time that I've been around him that I find myself wondering what he's thinking."

"He's been conditioned to be that way," Luna pitched in. "Look at the way he grew up. If he said or did the wrong thing he was beaten. At school he was always in trouble for his temper. Then when his fifth year came around he had to learn control. It was very difficult for him. Voldemort was inside his head, and he had a very hard time shutting him out."

"It was even worse for him when we were on the hunt," Ron said. He looked at Hermione. She nodded her acceptance of Ron's statement. "He suffered every day. He figured that it was worth it though, just to get some insight into what Voldemort was planning. He learned a lot then, but he's had almost twenty years to perfect things. This is the most open that I've seen him. For the most part it's also the happiest I've seen him." He looked Veate in the eye. "I'm thinking that it's because of you."

"Me? I've been very difficult with him. Why would he be happy about me?"

"Harry expects that," Hermione said. "He knows that you've never known him, that he was never there. He figures that you must resent him for that. Just the fact that you came to him for help, that when your mother needed help you went to the trouble to find him; that means more to him than you could ever imagine."

"What should I do?" Veate asked.

Neville stood up. "Come on," he said simply, stretching out his hand. "He'll want to see you. He just thinks that you don't want to see him." She accepted his hand and he led her to the doorway. He knocked softly and then cracked the door open. He stuck his head in and looked at Harry. He was sitting at a small desk, lost in thought.

"Boss?"

"Eh? Yeah, Neville?"

Neville opened the door and led Veate in. "She wanted to see you."

"Come in Veate," Harry said. He looked her straight in the eye. "What can I do for you?" Neville exited the room and shut the door.

"Are you alright Father?" she asked. "I, I'm sorry for what I implied back there." She crossed over and sat on the bed. "I guess that I'm scared for Mother and really nervous. I've been trying to bluster my way through this, and I've made a mess of things."

"It's alright to be scared, Veate. I was scared every moment of horcrux hunt. I just wanted to find a hole and crawl in it, hoping everything would go away. Hell, I'm scared now. So long as you don't let being scared stop you from acting, then everything will be okay. That's what it means to be a part of Gryffindor house. That's a part of your legacy, even if you didn't know it."

Veate sighed and looked at her father. "I've been very mean to you."

"No, you've given me something very precious: hope. Before you walked into my pub I had nothing. I was a very lonely man, wasting away to become exactly what I had: nothing. You've given me the chance to find and repay the woman who gave me the greatest gift any one person can give another. Just as your mother gave me hope all those years ago through her love, you have given me hope of finding that love again. I've gained a daughter, and the knowledge that the woman I loved, even if it was brief, loved me as well.

"Now, let's go out there and figure out how we're going to go about finding and rescuing your mother." He placed a hand softly upon her shoulder as she walked past him, and she found that she didn't mind it at all.

*0*0*

The next morning found the group splitting up. Harry and Veate would be going to investigate Gabrielle's flat in the city proper. Ron was heading back to the Ministry of Magic to investigate any unusual happenings there. Ginny and Luna were off into the seedier side of the city to connect with some of their contacts in the London Mafia and see if a lead could be found there. Hermione was visiting Scotland Yard, as the disappearance had happened in a Muggle section of London. Perhaps there was information to be found there. Since she was Muggle-born, she had the best chance of blending in. Neville had left to go back to the Island of Sark, where the Legion training center was, there to spread the word to the rest of the Legionnaires.

They would all meet back at the suite for dinner and to compare notes, there to figure out their next step. If all went well they should be able to find some clues as to what had happened, and then to analyze those clues. Careful, painstaking detective work would root out the hidden information.

Harry and Veate took a black cab to the Wandsworth district. Harry had chuckled at that when he had realized just where Gabrielle had chosen to live. Leave it to her to have such a sense of humor. He then sighed somewhat sadly when he realized just how much he had missed out on.

Just as well that he was a wizard, and a powerful one at that. He could probably count on at least another hundred years of life. That was a good long time left to live, and he hoped to find the one person that he now wanted more than ever to spend that life with.

They turned onto Adderly Grove and pulled up to _La Maison des Roses_. Harry instantly understood why Gabrielle had chosen this place to live. She was above a French florist. It was so like her. He remembered that she had loved tending the garden at Shell Cottage when he had been there, and she had especially loved the roses.

After paying the cabbie, they made their way up the lift to the floor that held her flat. They wandered down the hallway until Harry sensed the wards that Veate had mentioned two days ago. She had been correct, there _was_ something off about these wards. They had been tampered with. He was so busy trying to decipher what had been done to the wards that he almost missed the warning signs that were there. At the last moment he grabbed Veate and dropped to the floor with her. A green bolt sizzled over them, blasting a hole in the wall at the end of the hall.

Harry had his wand out and snapped off a couple of quick concussion hexes in the direction where the spell had come from. A series of grunts showed that he had struck home. With a crackling noise of electrical shorting, there appeared five intruders. As they were getting up the three that hadn't been knocked off of their feet closed the gap between them. One of them chose to charge Veate while the other two had closed upon Harry.

Veate's foot snapped out at her opponent's groin. He made to block it, but it was just a feint. The foot stopped short of the block and flicked up around his arm, catching him across the side of his face. A second snap and his head snapped back as the ball of her foot caught him in the forehead. As he staggered slightly she jumped up and brought her other foot up and around in an outside crescent kick catching him squarely in the temple. He went down in a heap.

She had barely noticed as her father seemed to dance past her. The two foes that had confronted him were already down by the time she could look up and he had moved in an impossible angle to get around them and her, his body arcing around to meet the two who were just getting up. His hands moved in a bizarre pattern, slamming around and into the two simultaneously. Two sickening cracks of breaking bones signaled their exit from this plane of existence. _Merde_, but he moved fast!

Her heart was threatening to beat out of her chest as she stood there. Her father on the other hand, wasn't even breathing hard. She looked at him, disbelief in her eyes. He shrugged and looked at her. He looked down at the man that she had taken down. He looked back up at her and smiled. "Sorry that one got through. I guess I've slowed down some over the years. You moved well though. What was that technique that you used? I'm not familiar with it."

She stared at him for a moment, mouth agog. _Slowed down? Sweet mother of Merlin!!! _She'd never seen someone move so fast. No wonder that Legionnaire back at the Ministry had idolized him so. Then she realized that he had asked her a question.

"It's called _manière de la grève de interposition, _or 'the way of the interposing strike'. It's based upon the six different striking positions of the foot, and the different ways of using foot strikes to disable an opponent. It's based upon _savate_, or French foot fighting. It's primarily a style for artisans and professionals who rely upon their hands for their livelihoods." She realized that she was rambling and stopped before she made a fool of herself. After what she had just witnessed she was trying to lecture _him_ on how to fight…

"You're really quite good at it. I'm glad that you learned how to take care of yourself with Muggle techniques. Magic is great at a distance, but once someone closes on you there is often little that you can do. It's just too close for wand work."

She nodded, at a loss for anything else to do. It took them the better part of an hour to get the authorities there to clean up the mess that had been made. There was also the matter of the three bodies and the two combatants who were still breathing. Harry had been assured that the two would be remanded into custody just as soon as they were deemed able to be moved from St. Mungo's.

Once the Ministry clean up team had left Harry and Veate made their way into Gabrielle's flat. It was much the way that Veate had described it. Harry looked around the flat to see if there was any obvious evidence that would lead them to clues. As there didn't seem to be any he decided to do a magical scan.

This showed him something that made him smile. When she saw it, Veate had to ask what had made him so happy. "The wards are keyed to record what happened here. We can collect that record and play it like a memory in a pensieve. Then, we'll know what happened."

Veate returned his smile. It was infectious actually. She looked around and then she noticed it. There was a chair in the room that hadn't been there before. She pointed it out to her father. They walked over to look at it. It had been upturned like many of the other chairs in the room.

Harry noticed something amiss on the chair. There seemed to be some sort of oxidation on the back of the chair, something akin to rust. He ran his finger over it and pulled back sharply. "Get to cover!" he yelled. Veate dove over a couch as he quickly cast a shield charm just in time as the chair exploded. The concussion from the shock wave through him back and into a wall, and then the world went black…

**Author's Note: **As you can see, this is quite AU. In this fic I also took into account that the movie Neville is quite a bit taller than he is described in the book. I took that and ran with it, making him a fitness freak as shall be shown in the next chapter. It's actually essential to the story.

Harry, as can be seen, is quite a bit different than in the books, but then, he has had twenty years to improve, no longer has a bit of Moldy Voldy in him, and in the next chapter I reveal a little more of his past.

Hope you like it, I'm enjoying it. Bonus points if you can tell me where I got the names for Hermione's acquaintances, it's another tribute to one of my favorite authors...

Sharptooth


	4. Ninety Seven Steps

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything other than the story line . All rights belong to J.K. Rowling

**Chapter Four: Ninety Seven Steps**

_The concussion from the shock wave through him back and into a wall, and then the world went black…_

Harry blinked as he started to regain consciousness. His daughter was standing over him with her wand out. It was evident that she had used the _enervate_ spell to bring him around. He groaned as pain flooded his body. _Stupid old man, _he thought as he struggled to stand.

"Well, that was interesting," he muttered as the got to his feet. "Thanks," he murmured to Veate. She smiled at him and he had to shake his head. She actually smiled at him.

"It's nice to see that you're only human after all," she said as she checked him over for any obvious signs of damage. "After everything that I've witnessed the last couple of days I was beginning to wonder. If anything the legends seem to have understated things."

Harry snorted. "I was never half as good as the stories make me sound. Don't get me wrong, I've done a lot, but things always get blown way out of proportion, and I always had a lot of help."

He ran his fingers through his hair, and winced at the feelings that it generated. "We need to get back to the room though, and look over what the wards have recorded." He pulled his wand and with a wave it glowed briefly. There was a quick flash from the wards and then they were ready to go.

As they left and hailed another black cab, Harry noticed that Veate was looking at him with an odd expression on her face. He raised an eyebrow at her, but she shook her head and whispered, "later."

Once they were in the cab, Harry quickly cast a _muffliato_ charm so that they wouldn't be overheard. "Alright, out with it," he said in a tone of voice that left no question as to whether he expected to be answered or not.

She sighed, admitting defeat. "I was wondering where you learned to fight like that back there. I've been studying _manière de la grève de interposition _for seven years, I've had fifteen years of dance lessons, and I've never been able to move like that.

Harry's eyes took on a far away look, as if he was suddenly someplace else. "When I was fourteen, your Aunt Fleur and I were participants in a tournament at Hogwarts. I never wanted to be in it mind, but that didn't mean that I could get out of it. At the end of the tournament I was forced to watch as another competitor, one that I had come to think of as a friend was killed. It also marked the return of Voldemort.

"My Godfather, Sirius Black decided that once I was back at my aunt and uncle's house for the summer that he was going to start paying me visits, teaching me to defend myself. He had to expand the room that I lived in greatly, but once that was done we could start my expanded education.

"Since there was the Decree for Reasonable Restriction on Underage Sorcery in effect then, I wasn't allowed to practice magic when I was out of school. Sirius figured that he would simply teach me a Muggle martial art. He said that he had learned it when he was a teenager, after studying a couple of other styles prior. Unlike most martial arts forms, this one utilizes one kata, which consists of ninety seven steps. To master it all you must do is walk the pattern. It isn't as easy as it sounds.

"Anyway, when Hermione, Ron and I formed Dumbledore's Army, I decided that one of the things that I would teach them was the ninety seven steps. One side effect of that is that it also increases your ability to concentrate and focus. It would come in very handy later on when I had to face Voldemort."

He looked at her and smiled. "Maybe, after this is over, I'll teach you as well. That is providing that you would want to learn…"

"I might like that, father," she said softly. Harry almost thought that she was going to hug him, but at that moment the cab pulled up to the curb at the hotel.

They got out and Harry stopped her before they could enter. "You know what? Change of plans." He took out his coin and concentrated for a moment. A series of letters and numbers formed on the coin and flashed red for a moment. "This place is too public," he said by way of explanation. "If you don't mind, I'd like to meet someplace that I know is secure. After the exploding chair, I'm a little edgy."

Veate had to admit that it made sense. He gently took her arm and led her over to a secluded alcove. Turning in place he disapparated them away from the hotel that they had been staying in.

*0*0*

To say that Veate was amazed at the place that they had appeared in, would be like saying a phoenix is a common bird. It appeared to be a training facility of some sort. When they had apparated in Neville was waiting for them.

"Welcome home boss, Veate," he said with a nod at the two of them. "I take it you wanted some privacy?" he asked as they started following him.

"Something like that. The hotel was just a little too exposed for my liking. I see you've kept the place up since I've been away." He looked around, obviously happy with what he was seeing. He pointed out a group of people for Veate who appeared to be practicing the kata that her father had mentioned earlier.

"Would you mind if we took a look?" Veate asked Neville.

"Not at all, the students would be thrilled. We don't often get visitors here at the compound." They made their way over to where the students were practicing. There appeared to be a single instructor. She was a very pretty Indian woman with her long hair braided into a single plait draped over her shoulder. The Legionnaire jumpsuit did nothing to hide her very flattering figure. Veate estimated her to be about the same age as her father.

As they approached Veate heard a whispered comment. "Christ, it's Potter himself!" She smiled at that. It seemed that even here her father couldn't escape his fame. She noticed that a couple of the students had taken a definite interest in her approach as well. She sighed to herself. She had gotten used to having people forget about her when her father was with her.

She waited patiently while her father was reacquainted with the Indian woman. It seemed her name was Padma, and she had indeed gone to school with her father. She then, was one of the original members. She decided to see if she could embarrass her father. "So Father, can you show me this kata of yours?" She motioned towards a series of footprints set in the training surface.

Harry raised his eyebrow at her. There had been shocked gasps when she publicly declared their kinship. It seemed no-one had gotten around to informing anyone here that their glorious leader had a daughter. He stood there for a moment, apparently deciding whether or not to grant her request and then nodded at her.

"As you can see Veate, there are a series of footprints marked out here. To be proficient in Sumito, or the ninety seven steps, you must be able to walk the pattern." So this was the famous Harry Potter teaching mode. "I haven't actually walked the pattern for a couple of years, but I think I still remember how," he said, drawing chuckles from the crowd.

He moved to a spot in front of the first print. He was standing there gathering his thoughts, and then the dance began. He just flowed through the pattern. As Veate followed his movements she saw where he was coming up on and knew that there was no way that he could get from the one print to the next. The human body just didn't move like that.

He never even slowed down. One moment he was approaching the move and the next he was past it and moving on, yet he had never missed a step. And then, it was over and he was standing at the end. Veate was amazed! She had never imagined that anyone could move like that, yet here was a whole school of people practicing.

"So you can still do it Father, I'm impressed. But the question remains. How are the teachers here? Can the students learn? Can they walk the pattern? She turned to Neville. He was a huge man. To get him to walk the pattern would be an accomplishment. He nodded and walked to the front of the pattern. In a matter of moments Veate knew that she had been wrong. He might not have been as smooth as her father, but he could certainly walk the pattern.

He finished and looked at one of the students. The student nodded and then walked the pattern. It wasn't anywhere near as pretty as Neville or her father, but it was done. Harry looked at her and raised his eyebrow. The message was clear: _Does that answer your question?_

She nodded at him, conceding the point to him. She was surprised by what he did next. "Veate, you've had years of training. Would you like to try the pattern? There's no time like the present to begin." She scowled at him, but she'd be damned before she would look like a coward in front of all these people, especially her father and Neville.

She went up to the pattern. She took a deep breath to calm herself and then she stepped out onto the first two steps. She bent her knees slightly, shifted her weight, and moved. Third step, okay, twist a little, pivot on the back foot, fourth step, lean right and shift, fifth step. Sixth and seventh took a kind of hop, and then she was moving fast enough to hit eight, off a half centimeter, but not bad, it felt good, she had the flow of it now – nine, ten, _use your arms and hands for balance! _Crouch and bounce, eleven, twelve is short _got to slow down and pull up_, but thirteen, _watch it, watch it!_ _Oh damn, no way_—!

She tangled her right instep behind her left ankle and her dance became a fall. She managed to twist and get one arm out, and finished the tumble in a sort of half-arsed roll. She hid hard on her right shoulder. Thankfully the training surface was forgiving. She came up and shook her head. She had thought that she was better than that, but she guessed that she had been mistaken.

She was ready to try again but her father just shook his head. "That's enough for today," he simply said when she glared at him. As he, Neville and Padma all decided to walk away she had no choice but to follow along. They made their way to a cafeteria. She got her lunch in silence, and followed the older trio to a table.

"…you think?" her father was asking her something, snapping her out of her funk.

"Huh?" she asked rather inarticulately.

"I asked what you thought of the pattern?" he replied.

"I guess it is a lot harder than it looks. I'm sorry if I embarrassed you with my poor showing, Father. I'll try to do better the next time." She had to look at everyone, for Neville had just sprayed out the juice he had been drinking. Padma was looking at her with an amazed expression on her face. She looked at her father, but he simply had a very bemused look about him. There was a definite twinkle in his eye however. "What?" she asked.

"Veate," began Padma, obviously trying with some difficulty to come up with words to console her. "You managed thirteen steps!"

"Well, I fell on the thirteenth," Veate ground out. "You'd think that out of ninety seven I could have gotten more than thirteen percent."

"Veate," Padma began again. "Sirius Black himself only accomplished eleven steps on his first try, and he trained your father. Nobody had ever gotten past that mark before or since."

Veate looked at Neville. He held up five fingers. She looked over at her father. "I got through eight steps on my first try, though I had never had any formal training before that, so I don't' know if that is a fair question for me…"

She sat back, stunned. She had done better than anyone else on her first try! Maybe she could actually do what her mother always proclaimed she could: live up to her father's example.

*0*0*

They were just waiting for Hermione to return from Scotland Yard before they were to watch the recording from her mother's wards. While they were waiting Padma had come in and invited them to come down to the gym. It seemed that Neville was going to be weightlifting. Veate decided that this was something that she was quite interested in witnessing.

When she got there with Padma and her father, the others were already there. Ginny and Luna were working out on some sort of Muggle exercise machines, and Ron was hanging upside down from hooks attached to boots that he was wearing. He was doing sit-ups in a vertical position. Veate was impressed.

It was then that Neville walked into the room. He was dressed only in a pair of Speedos and a set of work-out shoes. He looked like a Greek god, chiseled from marble. Every muscle was clearly defined and rippled when he moved. Even Ginny and Luna, the pair being very open about their relationship stopped to admire him as he moved.

He went over to an old fashioned weight bench. "How much are you going to do tonight?" Ginny called over.

"Padma here has bet me that I can't break the old record, which is three hundred and ninety kilos. I'm going to go for four hundred fifteen. That should determine without a doubt who's the biggest and baddest here, don't you think?"

Veate did a quick conversion in her head. Four hundred fifteen kilos would be about nine hundred and fifteen pounds! Now she was very interested in seeing this. She moved over so that she could have a good view of him.

Neville laid down on the bench and scooted under the bar. He looked over at Harry and nodded. Harry flicked a finger and the bar came up off of the supports and into Neville's outstretched hands. He slowly lowered it until it was resting on his chest. Harry slowly released the weight back to full pressure.

All eyes were on Neville now. He took in a deep breath, which was incredible in itself when you considered how much weight was on his chest. He then flexed his muscles and attempted to lift the bar. The muscles across his chest, back and shoulders tightened with the effort, and you could see the strain across his forehead. Then, slowly, the bar started to rise from his chest.

He got it all the way up, and Harry was ready to take the weight magically when Neville shook his head. He lowered the bar back down and then as if it didn't weigh any more than a feather he proceeded to press the bar back up nine more times. He then easily set the bar back down on the supports.

Veate was in shock! She couldn't believe how incredible it had looked. She was aroused. Hell, she was more than aroused, she was wet and ready for sex. She hadn't been this far out of control for years! Never before had a display of physical prowess affected her like this. She found that she was panting with need.

She glanced around. Sure enough, she had been leaking her Veela glamour. Ginny and Luna looked ready to get a room. Ron had gone beat red and was looking at her with a crazed look in his eyes. He was obviously struggling for composure. Padma was licking her lips and unconsciously running her hands down her torso and over her breasts, her nipples hard and prominent under her jumpsuit. The only one who wasn't affected was Harry. Maybe it was the fact that he was her father, Veate didn't know.

She looked over at Neville. He was hard for her, and he seemed somewhat embarrassed over it. As her father ushered people out of the room she made her way over to Neville. She ran a fingertip over one of his biceps and looked at him in her most seductive manner. "Let's go back to your room and burn off some of this excess energy," she whispered in his ear.

He shuddered for a moment. She decided to crank up the heat. She let out her Veela glamour full force. He gasped for a moment and stood up. She moved to take his arm and he picked her up and moved her out of his way. "I… I can't," he said shakily.

"Why not?" she asked sharply.

"I'm old enough to be your father. Merlin, I went to school with your father and besides, he's the boss. Look Veate…"

"You want me, I can tell," she said, cutting him off.

"Yeah, I do, but that doesn't mean that we're going to do anything. I only make love, Veate. I don't have casual sex. For me it has to mean something." He started to walk past her.

She stared at him for a moment, and then gave out a shriek. She charged past him and out the door, past her father and off towards their quarters. A moment later Neville came out and looked at Harry.

"I didn't mean to upset her boss," he said softly. "Is she going to be alright?"

Harry smiled and reached pp to put a hand on his friends shoulder. "She'll be alright Neville."

Padma, who had witnessed the entire thing as well smiled at her dear friend. "She's a Veela, Neville. She's had the ability to have anyone that she wants for all of her life. Very few people, male or female, can resist a Veela when she decides that she wants them. You've taken away her greatest power, and now she's questioning herself and her beliefs. Give her time, she'll come around."

"Thanks Padma, I needed to hear that." He leaned down and gave her a kiss on the forehead. He walked off to shower and change. He decided that it would be a very cold shower this evening.

As he was leaving Ron came running back towards them. "Harry," he said, slightly out of breath. "Hermione's back."

**Author's Note: **When dealing with a story about Veela, sex is a part of it. I happen to like to make sex in my stories more suggestive and less smutty, but it sometimes must be there.

We have seen some more of Harry's back story into this AU. More will be revealed in the next installment. Also in then next installment, Veate will ask some very pointed questions, and **_some _**of the protagonists shall be revealed. Thanks for reading, and if you are a regular reader of my stories, please visit my profile and vote on my poll about which stories I should try and complete first.

Sharptooth


	5. Information

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything other than the story line . All rights belong to J.K. Rowling

**Chapter Five: ****Information**

It took them about a half hour to get everything organized. Truthfully, it didn't take all of the that long, mostly it took Harry that long to get Veate calmed down enough to be presentable and come to the meeting.

He had gone to her room, to find the door locked. He thought long and hard about what to do at that moment. He could, of course, overcome her hastily applied locking charm. He could also overcome any lock on the island. He did, after all, own the entire place. He was the master of the compound. It would have been simplicity in itself to do so.

What he had to contemplate however, was whether or not it was the right thing to do. The young woman within was upset, and he desperately wanted to be there for her. That she was truly his daughter was never in doubt with him. It broke his heart to see her in distress. Harry Potter was not one to easily give his love, but once he did he gave it unconditionally.

He came to the conclusion that whether or not he could override her charm wasn't the issue. It was how she would feel if he flaunted his power to do so over her. He decided in the end to send in his _patronus _with a message asking if she would open the door for him.

It didn't take long for her to open the door. It was obvious that she had been crying. Harry, despite his thirty seven years, had very little experience with crying women other than what he had garnered in his many years of tending pub. When she stepped aside he moved cautiously into the room.

He walked over and sat in the lone chair, leaving the bed for her. He had noticed that the edge was rumpled, as if she had been sitting there prior to her answering the door. He decided to let her speak before he broached any subject, simply being there for her if she needed him.

"He wanted me father, he wanted to have sex with me. I'm a Veela, I can sense a person's desires. He wanted me, I wanted him. I don't understand why he would deny us the pleasure we could have given each other." She looked at him, almost pleading with him to explain to her that which she could not fathom.

Harry sighed. He really wasn't great at interpersonal relationships, but he hoped that he could channel Hermione at this moment. "Veate, to understand Neville you have to know a little bit about his past. Neville Longbottom has always been a man of very strong convictions. He has learned to harness an inner strength as well as the outer strength that is the only thing that so many see when they look at him.

"He was the one that I hand chose to run this facility after I spent the first year away from England here. I finished the training of everyone that I had started three years prior. While we were here during that time Neville finally discovered love for the first time. He fell in love with one of the women here, Hannah Abbott. She was a good woman, and a very loyal person.

"Neville and Hannah did everything together. They were inseparable. He loved her as no other could. He was the most gentle and caring person I ever saw around her. If ever a man had a soul mate, it was Neville with his Hannah.

"Then one day they went out with some of their teammates on a mission. It was a simple grab and go mission, an extraction. There was a young woman that had been kidnapped, and was being held as blackmail against her father. Anyway, during the raid, one of them tripped a ward, and all Hell broke loose.

"At the time that the ward was tripped Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan had just found the young girl. Within seconds the place was swarmed with mercenary wizards. It erupted into a huge fire fight. During the escape Seamus was hit with a _reducto_ hex to the chest. He went down in a spray of flesh and blood.

"Dean had his hands full getting their charge to the apparition point. Hannah and Neville went back for Seamus. They had grabbed him and were almost to the apparition point when a particularly nasty blood coagulation curse hit Hannah. Neville managed to disapparate out with both of them, but she died in his arms moments after they got back here. It didn't help matters that by the time they got back Seamus was gone as well. She had lost her life in a failed rescue attempt. It was a heroic gesture, but it cost Neville the love of his life.

"He hasn't been the same since. He's the greatest guy in the world, but he's never been in love again. I think that he's afraid that if he lets himself love again he'll end up losing them. I know that feeling oh so well. It's how I felt until the moment Voldemort was dead." He looked at his daughter. She looked stunned by what she had learned.

"I didn't know," she whispered softly, tears forming again in her eyes. She looked at Harry, silently pleading. He got up off the chair and sat next to her on the bed. He slowly, gently, while continually ready to retreat, wrapped his arms around her and held her close.

"No, you didn't know, there was no way that you could. Veate, Neville isn't upset with you. If he's upset with anyone he's upset with himself for making you feel badly. He's a good man, Neville is. If you're seriously considering anything with him, you must be prepared to commit to him, and only him, as he is the type of man who wouldn't accept anything less. In return you would get his complete devotion." He smiled at her as she seemed to be contemplating his words.

"Neville has been hurt, and hurt badly. He lost the only woman he ever loved. He's damaged goods, Veate, kind of like me, actually. He's obviously attracted to you, but he doesn't know you yet. If you're really interested in him, then you need to get to know him, and let him get to know you.

"I'm not about to play the protective father. You're of age, and you got along fine before I was ever in the picture. I've come to care very much about you in a very short period of time, but I've not earned the right to even pretend that I can dictate anything to you. I'm just asking you to be careful with the feelings of a very dear friend of mine."

He stood up and helped her up from the bed. "Why don't you go and get freshened up. Hermione's back, and we need to see what has been uncovered today. I would really like for you to be there."

"Why?" Veate asked. "What could I possibly contribute?" she asked as she made her way to the loo, though she kept the door open and simply went to the sink to get cleaned up.

"Well, first of all, you have a vested interest in this case. It is your mother, after all, and you were the one to bring her kidnapping to my attention. Secondly, you may see something that we miss. I don't know that you will, but I know the blood that flows through your veins."

"Assuming a lot, aren't you, _Father_?" she asked.

"I was referring to you mother's blood, _Daughter_," he replied in kind. "She was the smart one of the two of us. Besides, I've always been attracted to intelligent women."

"Oh? Who?" she asked as she came out, looking radiant once more.

He started counting them off on his fingers. "Cho Chang, she was in Ravenclaw. Hermione, Ginny, Luna, Padma, Tonks, your aunt Fleur, and of course, your mother. I've always found these women to be very attractive. Intelligence is a turn on for me." He smiled as he remembered his time with Gabrielle. "Come on, we've got a meeting to be in.

They made their way across the compound to a small, comfortable conference room. It looked more like a Hogwarts common room, but then Harry believed that comfortable people tended to think better. They were the last ones to arrive, and Harry noticed that Neville was quite tense as he saw the two of them enter.

Veate flashed Neville a warm smile, and the big man visibly relaxed. Harry tried not to snicker. If Veate really wanted Neville, and she decided to follow his advice, then Harry was willing to bet his fortune that Neville would someday be joining the family.

Harry sat down on a love seat and was surprised when Veate joined him. He was even more surprised when she snuggled up next to him and made herself comfortable. He tentatively put his arm around her and was pleasantly surprised when she allowed him to keep it there. It felt good to have someone to care about again.

He was pleased to see a solicitor's pensieve in the room, as well as a dry erase board and a Muggle projection screen. Neville and Padma had been busy while he was away. "So let's begin, shall we?" he asked as he looked around the room.

He unwrapped himself from his daughter and made his way over to the pensieve. He pulled his wand and pointed it as the silver bowl. A string of silvery vapors poured from his wand-tip into the pensieve. He tapped it with his wand and then went to sit back down. He looked around the room and smiled.

With a flick of his hand a bowl of popcorn flew across the room and into his lap. He looked around the room again. Hermione had rolled her eyes. Ginny and Luna were shaking with silent mirth. Ron had decided that it was a good idea and moved to get his own. Padma was grinning from ear to ear. Neville was just shaking his head. When he turned back to Veate she was smirking at him. "What?" he asked innocently. She poked him in the ribs and stole some popcorn while the pain distracted him.

Then, however, it was time to pay attention, for the pensieve had started displaying what was contained within:

_Gabrielle had come home after a long day out. She entered into the flat and set the bag that she had been carrying down next to the door. She looked around, seemingly pondering what to do first. She flicked off her pumps and padded quietly to the kitchen. It seemed that spot of dinner would be in order. _

_As she entered the room she froze. A deep voice had just sounded in her ear. "Stay still if you want to live" She obeyed the command. Quickly she was divested of her wand and patted down for any hold-out weapons. "Now, back out into the front room, and no tricks, or it will be the last thing you do." She turned slowly and made her way out into the front room. There was a wizard waiting for her, his wand trained on her. Shortly after the wizard that had ambushed her in the kitchen appeared. _

"Freeze image," Harry commanded. Everything stopped. "Anyone recognize them?" he asked. Almost everyone in the room nodded their head. Clearly shown in the image, though older now, and hard worn, were Gregory Goyle and Blaise Zabini. Harry chuckled. "It seems we have some old friends to deal with. Continue playback" The images started moving again.

_Zabini looked at Gabrielle, as if considering an appetizing piece of meat. "You're going to come with us, and if you're good we won't even hurt you too badly." Gabrielle looked at him for a moment. She straightened up slightly, so as to emphasize her bust line. She drew in a small breath and held it momentarily. She summoned her magic to her and started purposely projecting her Veela glamour. Her hair started waving in an eldritch wind, and her nipples visibly hardened. She pursed her lips slightly and ran her hands down her sides. She looked at him in a way that plainly said "fuck me..." _

_Blaise's reaction was swift. He took a step towards her and as she went to move into his arms he backhanded her. She staggered but remained standing. Unfortunately her glamour was broken. "None of that. Your magic will not be affecting us, Missy..." He raised his hand again, and she couldn't help but flinch. "We have a date with our employer. Now, are you going to come quietly, or do I have to persuade you?" Gabrielle decided that it was better to be alive and a captive then dead and free. She went with them and calmly put on her shoes and left with her escorts._

"Comments?" Harry asked. He was quietly seething over what he had just seen.

"There appears to be a Slytherin connection," Padma said, stating the patently obvious. "Does anyone know where Draco Malfoy is these days?"

"I may not know where Malfoy the younger is," Ron put in, "but I can tell you where his father is not. He's not in Azkaban any longer. He was paroled yesterday." This garnered a few shocked gasps from around the room.

"I pulled the records and brought a copy of the release paperwork. According to the official record, Malfoy Sr. was completely arrogant, rude and unrepentant at the parole hearing, yet he was released for good behavior and, I quote, 'proper attitude'."

"Curious," Harry muttered. "Gin, Luna, what did you turn up?"

"Well, we got to the scheduled rendezvous point with the contact from the London Mafia and there was nobody there. As it was a Muggle café we decided to sit and wait a while. While we were there, Luna spotted a couple of Muggles watching us. We got up and sauntered out. The pair followed us. It didn't take us long to turn the tables on them, and pretty soon they were singing to us."

"Oh?" Harry asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It seems that there has been a contract put out on us, Harry Potter," Luna said in her typical sing-song voice. "Anyone in a Legionnaire uniform is fair game, though there is an extra reward for any of us here in this room." She smiled serenely.

Ginny chuckled. "It's amazing how fast a man will tell everything he knows when Luna has him suspended by the scrotum." Every male in the room winced. Luna had specialized, much to everyone's surprise, in creative information gathering. She was an artist at getting people to tell all that they knew.

"So how much are we worth?" Ron asked.

"Twenty thousand pounds," Ginny said calmly. "Anyone in this room is worth twice that except for Harry. He's going for a cool hundred thousand."

"Somebody wants us badly," Neville whispered. Harry had to agree. Given how many Legionnaires there were, that was quite a payout.

"Neville, what information do you have for us?" Harry inquired.

"I've got Legionnaires spreading out around the globe. I've only contacted the original core with any details though. All others got a general alert for suspicious activity and a warning to watch themselves. I'll have to send out the contract information shortly.

"Dean is in the States. Parvati is with the Indian Premier. Dennis is in Japan. I've sent Susan to replace Hermione in Australia with their Minister for Magic. Lavender is in Spain. Cho is in China, while George is in Canada. Angelina and Katie are both in Mexico, and Lee is in Brazil. The other core members are on their way to other locations and should be checking in sometime tomorrow. So far nobody had discovered anything, but it's early in the situation. Things could change at any point."

Harry nodded. Neville was on top of things, as always. He looked over to Padma.

"At six thirty five this morning a serious attempt to breach the compound wards was detected. It was a massive punch of extreme magical energy. The wards held, and by the time the sixteen seconds had passed for the five Legionnaires on duty to reach the point where the wards were attacked the perpetrator had left. Later, at nine forty two this morning, another attempt was made to penetrate the wards. This one was much more subtle. Again, the perpetrator was no longer there by the time anyone arrived. We've recalled one of our new graduates to analyze the ward information to see if we can figure out who is behind these attacks.

"Well, that's an interesting development," Harry said in response. "Keep me posted on any further new on that front. Hermione, what do you have to add to this?"

"My day went fairly well, actually. I decided to investigate if there was any suspicious activity logged in the area of Gabrielle's kidnapping on that day in the Muggle society. It appears that there was a rash of robberies, drug related activity, and muggings at the time, keeping the Muggle authorities busy. I read through every report, and it seems that every person that was arrested was paid to commit their crimes. I got permission to interview each one, so I was busy most of the day with that." She smiled. "It's amazing what a fake ID and a _confundus _charm can accomplish.

"With the judicious use of legilimency, I found the name of each organization or individual that paid the criminals off. I then spent the rest of my time back tracing the money trail. Eventually every one of the payoffs came from the same parent company. The company's name is MagiKat Inc. I couldn't find anything on it, Harry, I'm sorry."

"No Hermione, you did well. Actually each of you did very well." He looked at Veate. "Any thoughts?"

"Just one: I've seen or heard of MagiKat before. I'm not sure where or when, but I'll think on it and see what I can remember. I'll contact some old friends that I used to spend time with and see if any of them can remember."

"Wonderful Veate!" Harry exclaimed. In a calmer voice he continued. "I would like with you to work with Hermione tomorrow on seeing if you can track down MagiKat Inc. Padma, Ginny and Luna, see what you can find out about those mysterious ward attacks. Neville, I need you to go to see Von in the Philippines. See if they have any information for us. Ron, you and I will put the squeeze on Draco. Let's see if the little puke knows anything."

*0*0*

"Who's Von?" Veate asked as they were leaving the room.

"Sirius' mentor," Harry replied.


	6. Confrontation

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything other than the story line . All rights belong to J.K. Rowling

**Chapter Six: Confrontation**

"_Who's Von?" Veate asked as they were leaving the room._

"_Sirius' mentor," Harry replied._

*0*0*

It was early the next morning when they all gathered for breakfast and a last briefing before each group left for their assigned task. As they were getting ready to leave Neville handed out small thumbnail sized devices to each person. Ron was busy staring at it when Veate inquired as to just what the tiny things were.

"They're called ear buds. You place them in the notch of your ear at the opening to the ear canal. It will allow us to talk to each other. It's a Muggle device, quite ingenious really." Neville nodded to Harry as he finished.

"I've always thought that wizards and witches discount what Muggles have accomplished. Just because something is different doesn't necessarily make it inferior. A cell phone is a much better way to communicate than an owl. Pens and pads are more efficient than quills and parchment. Don't even get me going on the relative benefits of a microwave…" Harry grinned back at his overly large friend. "We need to be able to contact each other quickly."

Neville then replaced one of the rank buttons on the collars of each of the Legionnaires' collars. He turned and looked at Veate, one eyebrow cocked and a small object held in his hand. When she nodded to him he bent down and delicately pinned a small brooch to her blouse. "These will allow us to send pictures of what you are seeing back to base for analysis. Another Muggle device, a camouflaged, miniaturized camera; I've got a tech that will be monitoring all the channels."

Once everything was in place the group broke up, each team heading in their own direction. Harry and Ron went to the apparition point, and left for Muggle London. Intelligence had given them a possible location to find Draco Malfoy in, and they had decided the night before that it might be a good idea to apply a little pressure on him, to see what might be revealed.

Harry let Ron lead. Being the director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement he had the advantage over Harry in a working knowledge of London. Harry hadn't been there for almost twenty years, while Ron worked there every day.

They appeared in a back alley, and quickly took stock of the situation. There was nobody around, which was just as they had wanted it. They quietly made their way out of the alley and into the mainstream foot traffic in London. The fact that they were in Legionnaire garb afforded them a few glances, but in London of 2016 jumpsuits weren't really that out of place.

They traversed the short distance to the targeted building, a two-story brownstone that had the name plate on the front proclaiming it to be the offices of Frazier, Stokes & Malfoy, attorneys-at-law. Harry nodded to Ron and they made their way inside. A quick look at the directory showed that Malfoy had his office on the first floor. A trip up the lift and they were where they needed to be.

When the first floor doors opened, Harry and Ron entered the foyer as if they owned the place. Marching straight up to the receptionist's desk they stopped in front of it and waited impatiently for the young woman to take notice of them. It didn't take very long actually. Two jumpsuit clad men made an imposing figure standing there, and with a gulp the receptionist asked them if she could be of service to them.

"Yes," Harry responded, looking her in the eyes. "You may tell Mr. Malfoy that Lord Black desires an audience with him, and that it would be in his best interests if he granted that audience." He finished in the frostiest voice he could, silently pushing his will at the young woman. She shuddered for a moment before pressing the intercom.

"I thought I told you I wasn't to be disturbed this morning, Claudia?" came a very familiar drawl.

Claudia's voice broke for a moment. "Mr. Malfoy sir, Lord Black is here requesting an audience with you. He says that it would be in your best interests to grant him one."

"I don't care if it's the _fucking _King of the Realm himself, I said that I wasn't to be disturbed…" was the response.

Ron reached over and jammed down the button. "Look Ferret Face, you might want to rethink your options. You can either open the door, or we can take it off its hinges and see you anyway." As he was saying this Harry quietly confounded Claudia. She sat there in a dazed state, staring straight ahead. He walked over to the doors and counted to five. With a wave of his wand the doors crashed to the floor in the office.

"Potter," Malfoy spat out. "You'd better have a good reason for coming in here and fucking around with my property like that." He stood up and glared at Harry. Ron followed Harry as he walked through then now open entry to the office.

"A woman's gone missing Malfoy, and Goyle and Zabini were involved. Where they are, you're never far behind. Now why don't you have a seat and convince us why we shouldn't take you apart piece by piece."

"You and what army, Scarhead?" Malfoy sneered.

"Come on, Malfoy," Harry scoffed. "You were never good enough to beat me before, what makes you think you can take out both of us?"

Malfoy's answer was a flick of his wand. Two spells shot out, one at each of them. Twin tower shields made reverberating gongs as the spells ricocheted off of them. One slammed into the floor while the other shot back and impacted on Malfoy's desk. The floor turned to stone, while the desk simply melted.

Harry and Ron moved in opposite directions, each in a martial dance that wove them towards Malfoy from either side. Spells flicked out from Malfoy's wand again, but he had no luck and missed them both. By this point it was too late, as both of them had reached him.

He made to disapparate, but before he could Ron had hit him on his wand hand, breaking most of the bones and his concentration. Harry had grabbed him behind the head and pulled it down, driving his knee into Malfoy's face. Draco went down hard.

He lay there for a few moments, dazed and spitting out a couple of teeth. He was bleeding copiously from his now shattered nose and struggling to remain conscious. Ron reached down and hauled him up to his knees. "Sing Ferret, before I get seriously upset with you." Unfortunately Malfoy seemed to be having a hard time focusing.

Harry sighed. He grabbed a handful of Malfoy's hair and swung his head around so that he could make eye contact. He drove his mind into Malfoy's. He was never that great at _Legilimency_, but after twenty years he had honed his skills. He knew that Draco was fairly good at _Occlumency_, but given the amount of pain he was in, and the fact that he probably had a concussion at this point, Harry didn't have a very hard time of it.

After a few moments he let go of Malfoy's hair and snorted in disgust. "He's not involved," he said in a low tone. Ron gaped at him. "Oh, he's not innocent," Harry spat out. "He's running a child pornography ring, using an orphanage that he set up to front it. He's selling children to wizards and witches across Europe. All the information is in his computer. The password is _Mudblood_."

He kicked Malfoy in the ribs and walked away. As he left he heard Ron calling his Aurors to come and take Malfoy away and clean up the mess.

*0*0*

Ron found him a half hour later, sitting among the trees in Greenwich Park, watching the red deer walk past. He had his head down for the most part, but Ron knew that he was aware of him. "He's in a holding cell at the Ministry. He'll answer for what he's done, Harry."

"I know he will Ron," came the quiet reply. Harry didn't bother to lift his head.

"So what's wrong Mate?" Ron asked.

"I feel old Ron. I feel like I'm running in circles and I haven't a clue." He looked up at his one-time best friend. "I'm scared. If we don't break something soon, I'm scared we're going to be too late. How do I face Veate if we can't get Gabrielle back?"

"I know just how you feel Harry," Ron admitted. "I've felt that way every time I've been on a case. How do I tell someone that the person they love isn't going to come back? It never gets easy. Look Mate, you've been gone a long time, and all of a sudden you're thrown into a situation that you don't want to be in. I understand that. What you've got to understand is that you can do this. You've done it before, and you taught all of us how to do it."

He shrugged as Harry looked up at him. "Come on. Let's get up, go find some clues, kick some arse, and get the girl. You've got a daughter that's relying on you to come through." He held his hand out to his friend. Harry took it and Ron pulled him to his feet. "Oh, and Harry?"

"Yeah Ron?"

"Your daughter's a _really _fit bird. You think I've got a chance?"

"You're a git, Ron, you know that?"

"Yeah, but I got you out of your funk. Come on, let's go.

*0*0*

Hermione called him just as they returned to Headquarters. "Yeah Hermione, go ahead," Harry said as he and Ron were walking to the electronics lab.

"Harry, we've found something, and you're not going to like it," came her reply.

"Why? What did you find?"

"Well, we found a warehouse, more of a staging center anyway. It's the central node for all of their European shipping. MagiKat Inc. is definitely a magical company. The wards here are incredible. Either someone is very good at what they do, or they can pay for the very best. They're comparable to the ones you set up at HQ."

"Now why does that not instill a sense of peace and tranquility within me?" Harry quipped.

"Well it shouldn't," Hermione replied. "I'm sending in an image. It's their company logo. Wait till you get a look at it."

"Can't wait to see it," Harry said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Hermione, I'm going to have to close the connection, Padma's coming. I'll talk to you when you return. Do not, I repeat, do not try to breach those wards yourself. Wait for us to assemble a proper assault team. Return to the apparition point ASAP, understood?"

"Got it boss. Veate and I shall return first available opportunity. See you shortly." She closed with a chuckle.

Harry grinned and looked at Ron. He had been listening in himself and had a matching grin. They turned to see Padma, who was hustling over to them. "What's going on Padma?" Harry asked.

"We've analyzed the magical signature from the ward attack Harry, and it's definitely demonic." Harry's eyebrows threatened to disappear into his bangs. He was just about to reply when alarms went off all over the complex. The trio shared a look and Harry took a moment to examine where the alarms were originating from. He grabbed both Ron and Padma and with a spin they disappeared.

They reappeared next to the exterior wards on the Northern edge of the island. There, on the other side of the wards was a woman of unearthly beauty. She was casually casting bursts of magical energy against the wards. When she saw that people had arrived she smiled. Harry realized that it was both the most beautiful and the most deranged thing that he had ever witnessed. It reminded him of Bellatrix Lestrange... on steroids...

There were a series of pops around him as Ginny, Luna and Neville arrived. "Who the Hell is that?" Ginny asked.

"No idea," Harry replied. "Be ready when I shift the wards." He made a gesture with his hand and one of the bursts of energy instantly rifled directly back at the woman. She was momentarily blown off of her feet! For a split second Harry dropped the wards and the group burst into motion.

Ginny was the first to reach her. She spun through '_The Flower Unfurling_' as both of her feet impacted on the woman's face in order. She seemed unfazed and with a casual backhand knocked Ginny backwards towards the newly raised wards.

Luna flicked her wand and slowed her lover's flight, redirecting her away from the wards. While she did so Neville and Harry struck simultaneously. Neville launched '_The Braided Laser_' as his left hand knifed up under her chin rocking her head back dangerously and then the fingertips of his right hand exploded into her exposed throat. Driven by the full force of his musculature he heard more than felt the bones being crushed.

At the same time Harry danced through '_Cold Fire Burns Bright_' behind her. His right heel crashed down on the back of her calf, his left knee driving into her lower back while his two hands arced up, the inside edge of his hands driving into both of her temples as she started to fall backwards from Neville's attack.

As the two of them danced away from her four consecutive _reductos_ slammed into her courtesy of Ron. Her body rocked from the explosions the hexes created.

Amazingly, she got up. As she did there was the repeated cough of twin air guns on full automatic as Padma waived her hands at the woman, her fingertips extended. The woman's body jerked like a marionette on strings as explosive darts ripped through her. With a loud crack and the smell of brimstone the woman disappeared.

Harry rushed over to check on Ginny. She was being tended to by Luna. She appeared to be somewhat dazed from the blow she had received, but otherwise no worse for the experience.

Harry helped the two of them to their feet. It was a subdued group that returned to the electronics lab inside the complex.

When they got there they found Hermione and Veate waiting for them. There was also a man there dressed in what appeared to be a multi-layered, shroud-like set of robes. Harry nodded at him as he approached. "Von," he said as he passed. He stopped in front of Hermione. "You saw?" Harry asked. Hermione's nod answered him in the affirmative. "Thoughts?"

"That was one tough bitch," Veate commented, drawing chuckles from all present.

"You said it, Daughter," Harry said, grinning at her. He turned back to Hermione. "You had something to show me? We'll worry about the mystery woman later."

"Yes I do Harry, take a look at this." She pointed to one of the larger monitors on the south wall. There, on the screen was a picture of the side of a building. On the wall was a logo. It was in the shape of a ceramic plate with MagiKat around the top edge and Inc. along the bottom edge. In the middle of the plate was a rather fat kitten in a fluffy pink cardigan sweater with a sickeningly bright pink bow on the top of its head…

**Author's Note: **For those blokes and birds from here in the states that aren't familiar with the British system for numbering floors, what would be our first floor is called the ground floor, and the first floor is the first floor above the ground floor, or the second floor for those of us on this side of the pond...

And the magical mystery villian revealed in the logo is????


	7. Complications

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything other than the story line . All rights belong to J.K. Rowling

**Chapter Seven: Complications**

The first thing that she noticed as she woke was the suffocating heat. It was outrageously hot in the room where she found herself. It wasn't necessarily a bad room, but it was incredibly hot.

The second thing that she noticed was that she wasn't alone. There was another woman in the room, and she appeared to be watching her. Gabrielle sighed and sat up, wincing as the headache that she didn't know that she had hit her full force.

"How long?" she asked in a hoarse voice.

"You've been here for about two days. They dragged you in and left you on the bed. They told me that I wasn't to disturb you. I wanted to help, but I was afraid…"

Gabrielle shrugged to reassure the woman that she wasn't upset over things. She looked at the woman that was imprisoned with her. She was quite pretty, having long wavy brown hair and tender green eyes. She appeared to be in her early twenties, and looked to be just over a hundred and seventy centimeters and maybe fifty five to sixty kilograms.

"So how long have you been here miss…?"

"Oh, Denise, Denise Stewart, and I've been here for a few hours more than you have. I don't really know why we're here… do you?"

"No, not really, though I have a few guesses. My name is Gabrielle by the way, Gabrielle Delacour. You're American, no?"

"Yeah, I was walking to a class and the next thing I knew I woke up here."

"Any idea where here is, Denise?" Gabrielle asked, peering out the only window in the room. Unfortunately the sunlight pouring in was so bright that in only exacerbated the pain that was flooding through her temples. She winced and closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose in a vain effort to hold off the pain.

"Judging by the heat, humidity and the birds that have been flying past the window, I'd say that we're somewhere in either Central or South America." She was interrupted by the door opening.

Two women walked into the room, followed by the two captors that Gabrielle had seen when she was kidnapped from her flat. The first woman was short and quite squat, with a very wide mouth that gave the appearance that it would contain a tongue that was of great use in the catching of flies. She was dressed in a horrifyingly ugly green tweed suit, and she had a pink bow in the middle of her iron gray hair.

Behind her was a woman that made even Gabrielle's beauty pale. She was tall and perfectly proportioned, with flowing auburn hair and piercing gray eyes. She wore a shimmering black velvet robe trimmed with threads of white gold. The moment she laid eyes on Gabrielle she laughed in a melodic, inhumanly perfect voice.

Gabrielle felt a frisson of pure desire course down her spine as the sound coursed over her. This woman was surely a goddess… She felt her excitement grow and then she realized what it was.

_Oh really? Well two could play that game…_ She let her Veela glamour flow, giving back as good as she got. Immediately she felt the desire lessen and fade as the two glamours canceled each other out.

"Gremory, stop that this instant!" the squat woman shrieked. "She is not yours! You may have the other in payment of our pact…" Gabrielle made to move when she found herself caught in a full body bind. She fell to the bed on her side and looked helplessly at the younger woman on the other bed.

Denise looked petrified with fright. Her eyes twitched like a rabbit, and then she made to bolt off the bed. She never got beyond the first step when the exotic woman spoke to her.

"Oh no my dear, we mustn't run, mustn't try to get away. Gremory shall take perfect care of you, do not fear…" Denise froze at the first word, though she continued to tremble in fear, not understanding what was happening to her.

Gremory stepped up to her and gently cupped the young brunette's face with her left hand. Denise's eyes widened at the contact and she sucked in a sharp breath. Gremory slowly ran a finger down the girl's arm. "No… please…" she pleaded.

"Oh, but you like my touch, don't you young one?" Gremory asked, looking the young woman in the eyes. She shifted her left hand so that her fingernails scraped back across Denise's scalp and through her hair. Denise shuddered back into the touch.

"Please… I'm not… I don't…" Denise shuddered again and arched her back as Gremory ran her other hand over her breast. Gremory steered Denise into a searing kiss. The younger woman was rapidly losing the ability to string together a coherent thought, let alone resist what was being done to her.

Releasing the kiss Gremory looked down at the girl. "Say that again," she whispered.

"I…I…I'm not…" Gremory deftly unbuckled the girl's jeans and in a fluid motion they were pooled at her ankles. She dipped her fingers into the girl's panties and Denise cried out as she came... _hard_. When she stopped shuddering Gremory smiled at her.

"That's better my precious one. You're mine now, aren't you?" Denise's only answer was to kiss her new Mistress, shuddering through another orgasm as she surrendered to the demon completely. With a laugh and the smell of brimstone they were gone.

"I could have fed you to her Veela, don't ever forget that…" the woman who was still there smirked as she walked out the door leaving Gabrielle to struggle against the enchantment in vain…

*0*0*

Harry had a lot to consider. There was no longer any doubt in his mind just who the mastermind behind Gabrielle's kidnapping was. He turned to Padma. "See if you can get me an audience." He looked around the room. "I suggest we all get some rest. Unless I'm guessing wrong we're going to take down that staging center tomorrow. We need more information, and I'm betting that we'll find it there." Just before he strode from the room he motioned for both Von and Veate to follow him.

He made his way to one of the training patterns. As his daughter struggled to catch up with him, and the enigmatic Von simply strode purposely behind her, Harry started walking the pattern. It always made him feel better to be doing something. He quickly made his way through the ninety seven steps and started over.

Veate's eyes bulged as she watched her father flow through the steps. It was an incredible thing to see him move through them. It looked so effortless when he did them. By the time he was almost through his third repetition she had made it to the starting point.

"Your right hip is out of alignment when you follow through on '_The Vacuum Cage_'. It makes it harder to control yourself through '_Steel Circle_'," Von said softly. Veate looked at him incredulously. She couldn't see a thing wrong with what her father was doing, and she held black rank in her art.

"You may be right," Harry conceded. "Do you think you could recreate it so that I can see it? Then if you would be so kind as to show my daughter the correct way so that she can see as well…'

"Of course, Cloud. I'd be happy to." Veate, though confused over the nickname that Von was using with her father, was doing a quick mental calculation while the older man stepped up to the front of the pattern. Her father was currently thirty eight years old. Sirius Black had died when Harry was fifteen, twenty three years ago. He was supposedly thirty six when he died. He had spent twelve years in Azkaban for a crime he hadn't committed, and he had spent at least a few years before being trained by Von. For Von to be mentoring anyone he had to have been at least around the age that her father was now when he trained Sirius. He had to be at least in his early seventies now.

He certainly didn't sound like he was in his seventies. His voice was that of a man in the prime of his life. Was this man a wizard? He seemed comfortable around wizards, but then Veate got the distinct impression that he wouldn't be uncomfortable no matter what the situation was. He had an air of utmost control about him.

It appeared that Von was ready. "This is what you are doing, Harry," he said softly. Then he danced. It looked identical to what her father performed. Von ended the pattern and then walked back to the front. "This is how it should look." He danced again. There were subtle differences. Somehow it seemed even smoother this time around. Somewhere near the eightieth step she could see her father's eyes light up as he caught the difference and nodded his head.

"Thank you," he murmured. The older man acknowledged the recognition and bowed slightly. Despite the fact that his face was fully enshrouded, leaving only a thin opening for his eyes, Veate was convinced that the man was smiling.

"Your student moves well, Cloud. Has she attempted the pattern?"

Harry nodded. He looked at Veate and gestured with a sweep of his hand. Veate sighed and stepped up to the pattern. He knew that she could only accomplish twelve to thirteen steps. What was her father playing at?

She ran through a mental relaxation technique that _Cicero_ had taught her. She stepped out and started to flow. Everything seemed to start alright and she moved through the first ten steps with relative ease. It started to get a little difficult at that point, but she dropped into a deeper _fugue_ state, and her body started to move of its own accord. She kept going, not really knowing where her body was taking her, but she kept it up anyway.

Finally, she couldn't seem to make the step, and her feet slid out from under her. She turned the fall into a roll and slid to a stop in front of her father. He was staring at her, confusion written clearly in his eyes. She didn't understand. Surely he wasn't mad at her performance. She was sure that she had done better than the last time. Surely he didn't expect her to complete the entire pattern! It was only the second time that she had tried it!

And then she felt strong hands picking her up and spinning her around. Neville had lifted her as if she weighed no more than a toothpick. He set her down, a look of excitement on his face. She had no idea what had made him so happy, but it thrilled her to her core that something had.

Before she could realize what happened she was engulfed in a hug. Her father was hugging her! Were those tears in his eyes? He placed a soft kiss on her forehead and stepped back, looking slightly embarrassed. She looked around. Her father's entire inner circle was there. They all had varying looks of stunned disbelief on their faces, looks of shear incredulity.

"What is going on?" she asked softly.

"Forty six bloody steps," Ron muttered.

"She's a natural," whispered Padma. She looked at Ginny and held out her hand. Ginny took out five galleons and placed them in the Indian woman's hand, shaking her head all the while.

Harry turned to Von. "Von could you…? I'm not sure I'm capable… I mean you just saw…" he seemed to be at a loss for words.

"No Cloud, just as it was not for me to train you, leaving that chore to Mutt, it is your turn to teach her. You have had other students." He swept his hands across the assembled team. "She needs your tutelage, not mine. If I might offer some advice…" Harry nodded. "When this quest is over, return to our compound and receive a new shroud. Then return here to Legion Headquarters and resume your role as Cloud. Teach them again, and let Neville be but a student again. He has much to learn, and he has taught for long enough."

Harry shook his head. "No, my time as Cloud is over. Perhaps I shall return here and lead the Legion again if we're successful. If I lead though, it will be as Harry, not as Cloud. That ship has sailed, and isn't ready to return yet. Maybe someday, but not now.

"Besides, I think that perhaps it's time for a new person to assume the shroud." He looked at Hermione. "Maybe, in a year or so, she'll be ready to be a student again." Hermione blushed and nodded softly.

"Oh? And what do you propose that we should call her?" Von asked.

"I was thinking we could call her Pen," Harry replied with a grin.

Von appeared to be considering what Harry had suggested. Eventually he nodded. "Harry, as always, the Siblings stand with you. If you need our services do not hesitate to ask." He looked at Hermione. "Only a year? I must start the preparations for a new Pen. If you don't mind I shall return to set things in motion." He strode off shaking his head. "A new Pen," he could be heard to be muttering.

*0*0*

The next morning Veate wandered into the cafeteria, to find it almost completely deserted. She decided that it was probably too early, as it was only half five. The only other person there as she got a light breakfast was Neville Longbottom. She slowly made her way over to where he was sitting. "May I join you," she asked demurely.

"Of course Veate," he replied. She slid into a seat across from him.

She sat there in companionable silence with him while they ate their meal. As she noticed him looking like he was finished and perhaps deciding to leave she screwed up her courage and spoke.

"When I was twelve my mother introduced me to my first lover. There had been others who had tried to be before him of course, but Gabrielle was diligent in her watchfulness. She didn't want me to start too early."

Neville shifted in his seat uncomfortably.

"His name was Kurt, and he was maybe fifty years old. He had been my _grand-mere's_ lover a couple of years past, and Mother picked him for me then, against the day when I was old enough. He was from Germany and old enough to be my _grand-pere_.

"Kurt was a teacher. It was his job, his avocation, his reason for being. He lived to teach. He made me feel cherished. He spent weeks preparing me, weeks, so that when we finally breached my virginity, it was but one part of the total experience. As a lover he was kind, gentle, and expert. It was a beautiful thing, my first time.

"In most countries, sleeping with a twelve-year-old is a crime – and rightly so. But a Veela is not made the same way as normal humans are, and twelve is old by our standards. Many of us start years earlier. We reach puberty, on an average, at nine. I was sexually mature at eight. But I was protected by Mother, who wanted me to have an experience most of us Veela do not have the time or opportunity to enjoy. For most of us our first experience is a violent rape experienced at the hands of a sexual predator.

"Kurt was patient, he was careful, and he showed me how good lovemaking could be, if one took the time and effort to make it so. I have been with scores of partners since – men, women, human and part human – and some experiences have been better, though not many. I have learned more about myself; it is not bragging to say I've become skilled to the point of artistry. It is what my kind were created to do. It's something we _have _to have, to feel whole."

She looked at him, locked her gaze to his, and he could feel her willing him to see and understand her.

"You said that it wasn't about casual sex for you, that it was about love. It is beyond my understanding that a person could, for some abstract principle, give up something around which my life and the lives of my kind are based, yet three people that I have come to care about have done just that. That you could refuse my offer, something that many have fought for and that at least one has tried to kill to have, impresses me. Especially since I _know_ how much you want me."

Her voice dropped to be quieter still, and he could hear the nervousness in it.

"Kurt taught me about sex, and until now sex has always been enough. I know what there is to know about technique. I know the ways of pleasure, and – I don't know why – it suddenly isn't enough anymore. That scares me. I never worried about love. I don't know about love. Before, it didn't matter. I didn't need it; but now, I _need_ to know."

She took a deep breath. "Will you teach me about love, Neville Longbottom?"

Neville considered her closely. She was so much like her father. He too had never known love, and Neville wasn't sure that he had ever really figured it out. At this moment though, Veate was defenseless. He could see her for what she really was: a young woman who only pretended to be hard and invulnerable. She had just opened her heart to him, as Hannah had so many years before.

Hannah had told him all those years ago that love comes as it will, and can leave just as quickly. You must recognize it or you will lose it. There is no way that it can be defined, but it is there and if you are careful you will know it when you see it.

Now, at this point in time, Neville saw something that he had never expected to see again, and it was as if he had been hammered in the gut. He felt weak, he felt blessed, and he felt cursed.

_Bloody Hell…_

He sighed. There was really only one choice. He stood and gathered her into his arms and held her, that was all. Not quite like a friend holds another friend, but not like one lover holds another, not yet.

"Okay," he said. Veate started to cry in his arms. After a while Neville did too.

_Bloody Hell…_

**Author's Note: **I have shamelessly stolen the scene between Neville and Veate from Steve Perry's "The Albino Knife", chapter 19, pages 206-208. I suggest you read the entire Matador series by him. This story is somewhat of a cross-over with that universe as well, though I have set it firmly in JKR's realm.

Up next, MagiKat's warehouse, and a surprise for Harry.

Please make sure to visit my profile and vote on my poll if you haven't done so already. This story is firmly in the lead, and I am running with that, but the order that I update other stories is up for grabs so help me out.

Special thanks to each and every one of you who has taken the time to review. I appreciate them so much. It's what we writers live for, the feedback that only you can provide.

I expect there to be maybe four or five more chapters and then this one will be done. Perhaps there will be a sequel, after all I like the scenario, and we could always follow Hermione's journey as the new Pen...


	8. The Order

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything other than the story line . All rights belong to J.K. Rowling

**Chapter Eight: The Order**

Harry Potter liked to think that he had grown up in the twenty years that he had been away from the wizarding world. He had been a student of the human condition for a lot of those years, having tended pub for almost the last eighteen years. He had seen a lot, done a lot, and generally tried to live by his own moral and ethical code.

Thus, when he walked into the cafeteria and saw his daughter in the arms of his dear friend Neville, and he realized that they both were in tears it posed a conundrum for Harry. Should he stay and try to help them, or should he butt the Hell out. After but a moment's thought, he decided to butt out.

Scooting down the hallway he made his way to the gym. He figured that he didn't really need to eat anyway, it would just get in the way of his workout. He made his way to a weight table and started piling on weights. When he got to one hundred thirty five kilos he decided that he had better stop, or run the risk of injury. He wasn't Neville after all…

It was there that he was found by the one person that truly knew him, the one person that he had made time to visit at least twice a year since he had left: Hermione. She was truly his best friend. She approached him as he was finishing up a set of reps.

"Hey Harry," she said in greeting.

"Hey yourself." He put the weights back in the cradle and sat up, grabbing a nearby towel. As he wiped himself off he took the time to look at his friend. "What's going on?" he asked.

"I was wondering that about you," she replied. "I stopped by the cafeteria and almost interrupted a tender moment. I didn't see you around and decided to go looking for you."

"Yeah, I walked in on them as well. I don't really know what to think," he admitted. "I like Neville, he's one of my closest friends. I know that Veate's set her sights on him, and it looks like she's found a way in, but I'm not sure how I actually feel about it, you know?"

"Yes Harry, actually I do understand. I've worried about Neville since Hannah died. He was hurt so badly, and we couldn't reach him for so long. The only one that could was Padma. I'm glad that you kept her here for him. Now I'm kind of worried for her. She's been the only woman in his life for so long, how is she going to take this?"

"Padma will be okay, Hermione," Harry replied. "She's probably the second strongest woman I know. I know that she's the second smartest woman that I know." He grinned at her blush.

"You're not alone you know," Hermione said, abruptly changing the subject. "I'll always be there for you when you need me."

"I know that." He looked at her, really looked at her. "Did you ever wonder why you and I never got together?" he asked suddenly.

She sighed. "Harry, we didn't get together because you were never available for me. When we were younger you never understood all the things that you felt, because you were emotionally crippled by the environment that you grew up in. I knew that and never pushed things. Later on, when you could understand what love was, your heart was claimed by another. I thought at the time that it was Ginny, but now I see that it was actually Gabrielle.

"I love you Harry, but your heart was never there to give to me. I accepted that a long time ago. I've been content to be whatever you needed me to be. That turned out to be my being the big sister that you never had growing up. Besides, it isn't as if I haven't had love in my life. Hamish and Lily have been great. You saw to that."

"Hermione, I'm sorry that I couldn't be what you wanted me to be. I often wish that I could have been. You're the only true friend that I've ever had. You never abandoned me, even when I abandoned everyone else. I do love you, Hermione, but you're right, my heart belongs to another, and frankly that scares me."

"You're afraid that she won't return your feelings," Hermione said softly.

"Got it in one…" He shrugged his shoulders. "I've been rejected so much in my life. I don't know what I'll do if she doesn't want me, or if we aren't in time."

"Hey, we're going to be successful, and she still loves you." She reached out and stroked his cheek. When she pulled her hand back she realized that it was wet. She reached out and pulled him into a hug.

He had almost forgotten how good one of her hugs felt. She was the only person who still hugged him. The fact that he had someone who would was one of the lifelines that he relied upon. He realized for what seemed the seven hundred and sixty second time just how much he needed her in his life.

"Don't ever change Hermione, I need you to be you," he whispered in her ear. She snuggled into his embrace even more for a moment, before letting up just enough so that she could stand on her tip-toes and brush her lips across his in a tender, if chaste kiss.

"Always and forever, Potter, always and forever." She smiled at him, and then reached down into a pocket as Harry did the same. The _protean_ charmed galleon was vibrating. "Looks like we're wanted in conference room six," she said as they both started walking.

*0*0*

They were the last to arrive, as it turned out that they had the farthest to go. "What's the situation?" Harry asked as they made their way to a couple of available seats. Harry nodded to Neville and Veate who were sitting next to each other.

"Your request for an audience has been granted, Harry," Padma answered. "We have an appointment at Number Ten Downing Street at nine this morning. The official request if for you and your team to meet and greet in the Pillared Room as guests of the State."

"Well, I guess that this calls for full Uniform, including dress robes." He looked over at Veate. "Well Veate, would you be upset if we dressed you as a Legionnaire? After the last couple of days, you could be considered a recruit trainee at least."

"Are you sure that you want me to, Father?" she asked slowly. "I wouldn't want to be an embarrassment to your team. I would be alright with dress robes."

Harry looked around the room, gauging the response he would get. "Tell you what, let's ask the team." He gestured to the group. "Be honest, does anyone here have a problem with Veate being considered one of us?"

"Of course not Harry," Hermione said immediately.

"She's already contributed to the mission, and she'd look mighty good in Legion blacks," Ginny commented, earning a playful slap behind the head from Luna.

"Seriously Harry, she's one of us already," Luna said with a smile.

"I don't have a problem with it," Neville said while he looked proudly at her.

"It was only a matter of when, not if," Padma responded.

"Bloody Hell, forty six steps…" Ron said softly, earning chuckles all around.

*0*0*

They adjourned to their rooms to get ready. As Harry was finishing with the clasp on his robes, there was a soft knock at his door.

"Come on in, it's open," he called out. He heard the soft footfalls that he had come to recognize as his daughter's. He turned and saw her there, dressed for the first time as a Legionnaire. On her collar were three small rank pins, a wand, a gemstone, and a cloak. He raised his eyebrow momentarily. She must have seen it because she returned the gesture.

"I was looking at the rank insignia that you have. The first one, the wand marks you as a cadet. The second, the gemstone signifies training officer status, the dark blue color the equivalent to an ensign in the navy. The third, the cloak marks you as mission qualified."

"Is that good?" she asked, chewing softly on her lower lip. He chuckled at both the question and the gesture.

"Yes, that's good. As a junior officer you would be expected to sometimes lead a small unit, and you would have the equivalent authority and responsibilities thereof. I assume that since you have already been participating on this mission you have been given the mission qualified status." He shrugged.

"It's not because I'm your daughter is it?" she asked, clearly uncomfortable with the idea.

"No, I don't really think so. I think that it has more to do with what you've demonstrated thus far. Besides, neither I nor Neville is in charge of the ranking here. That decision comes strictly from Padma. Believe me when I say that she's as fair and impartial as they come." He made to get ready to leave when her hand on his arm stopped him. "Yes?" he asked.

"I know that you saw Neville and I earlier. Are you alright with us?" she asked.

He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "Does it really matter whether I am or not?" he responded.

"Yes Father, it does. I know that I've been harsh with you, and truthfully I wanted to hate you because you weren't there when I was growing up. I had this image of you as this horribly arrogant man who was incapable of loving someone like me. Instead I find that you aren't what I imagined at all. You're just a man who never knew that you had a daughter. You've accepted me despite how I treated you. I… I've realized that I really care about what you think." She looked up at him without raising her head.

Harry couldn't help but smile. "Thank you Veate," he murmured. "It means a lot to know that my daughter actually likes me. I'm going to tell you what my godfather told me: I know that you have no reason to believe me, nor to feel like this, but when this is over, if you'd like, I'd really like to be a part of your life, to be a part of your family. If you, or your mother, or both of you would like, I would like to be there."

"I'd like that. I know Mother would like it too. Now, since we look so damn good in these outfits, let's go and meet some people," she said with a flourish.

As they were walking across the compound she asked him the one question that had been on her mind since the night before. "Father, why did Von call you Cloud?"

"Back when I decided to leave England, I knew what I wanted to do with this place. I had just purchased the island, and I had construction going on across the compound. I had Neville spend a few months rounding up the entire old defense group, and I paid a trip to the Philippines to visit Von. He was a part of an organization called the Siblings of the Shroud. They are called monks, but really what they are is a group of rebel watchdogs who are trying to see that the world is a better place by resisting oppressive rule where ever they find it.

"They were the group that recruited Sirius while he was still at Hogwarts. He learned from them over the summers, and attended school the rest of the year. When he turned sixteen he left home and spent the school year with my Dad's family. In the summers though, he still went to the Siblings. Later, he trained me.

"When the compound was ready, I received special dispensation to wear the shroud. Normally only a full Sibling would be allowed to wear the shroud, but since I had been trained by Brother Mutt, I was allowed to assume the title of Cloud. Von and the last Pen chose the name. It came from a combination of my rather gloomy disposition along with the lightning bolt scar that I still have.

"I returned to the Legion complex and started training the group in earnest, under the guise of Cloud, the _man-who-trained_ Harry Potter. It was under that guise that I set up the Legion."

"Why?" she asked.

"I needed a persona that was different from Harry Potter. If word got out that Harry Potter was training Legionnaires this place would have been over-run in a week's time. As it is, the best of the best seek us out. Only the core group has ever known the real story. I return here once a year to see what's going on, staying a day or so. I don't see the need to renew the role though."

"I think I understand. Thank you for explaining," she responded and then flashed him the smile he was coming to love.

*0*0*

The meet and greet turned out to be more of a State dinner. Harry and his group were presented at the door to the Pillared Room, and they stepped into a large chamber filled with people. At one end of the room there were twin ionic pillars with straight pediments, while just above a fireplace there was a portrait of Queen Elizabeth I.

As they were starting to mingle, the group was called over by the pillars. When they got there Veate saw that there were four men and a woman waiting for them. Two of the men were in finely tailored suits, while one was in a military uniform. The last man and the woman, surprisingly, were in Legionnaire garb.

As they got closer Harry and the group all quickly sank to one knee momentarily. Veate, ever a quick learner followed suit so quickly that there was very little pause between them. When the group rose her father quickly crossed to the younger of the two men.

"Harry!" the young man proclaimed. He was close to six feet tall, with rather prominent wavy red-brown hair and a warm smile.

"Your… Harry!" her father retorted, gripping the man by the forearms. Veate noticed that the two Legionnaires were watching her father very closely. Her father let go of his friend and turned to his group. "May I introduce my team?" At the man's nod he continuted.

"This is my second-in-command, Colonel Neville Longbottom. Next to him is his chief-of-staff, Lieutenant Colonel Padma Patil. Behind them are Commandant Major Ronald Weasley, who is also the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement for the Ministry of Magic, and Commandant Major Hermione Granger. Next we have Captains Ginerva Weasley and Luna Lovegood."

He motioned for Veate to step up next to her. "Lastly, I would like to proudly present to you Cadet Aspirant Veate Delacour, my daughter." He turned back to the men. "Team, this is Commodore Avairs Terekhov, of His Majesty's Royal Navy, Michael Oversteegen, the Prime Minister of England, and lastly _His Royal Highness Crown Prince Henry Charles Albert David of Wales_.

"So glad you and your team could make it, Harry," the prince said in a low tone. "I've been trying to get him here for a long time," he said to the group. "He's fought it tooth and nail though, and I decided that I had to take the opportunity when it arose. You're not getting away from this today Harry," he said jovially.

"You should take the time to mingle for a bit, before we have the meal," Oversteegen said to the group. "We have a couple of things to take care of during the course of things, and then you lot can get on with your lives. Now, Harry, I believe that you wanted to see me about something…"

"As a matter of fact, Prime Minister, I did." He grabbed the PM by the arm and led him away, talking in a hushed voice.

Veate found the affairs of State to be just as boring in the Muggle world as they were in the wizarding world. Her mother had been an ambassador for the French Ministry to the International Confederation of Wizards, so Veate was often dragged to dinners and formal get togethers when she was younger. It was quite easy to slip into the debutante role that she had learned then. It was easy to look like you were enjoying yourself, when in reality you were only enduring the experience.

After about an hour, everyone was seated for the meal. During the second course the Prime Minister stood up and made his way to a formal podium. He looked around the room and then spoke into the attached microphone.

"Good sirs and madams. It is with great pleasure that I welcome you here today. We have a few special presentations to make. I shall now turn the podium over to His Majesty, Crown Prince Harry."

The Prince made his way over to the podium. He was grinning from ear to ear. "Good afternoon. We have in our company today a small group of people that are not widely known to most of the good people of our nation. They have constantly fought behind the scenes, making the United Kingdom, and in fact the entire world a much improved place to be in.

"In order to set the stage, as it were, I shall have to embark upon a short story. About twenty years ago the nation endured covert attacks from a little known terrorist. He and his organization murdered many people, famous and common, all in the name of blood supremacy. He was in fact, a self styled new age Hitler. He made it his mission to try and eradicate all people who did not fit into his insane mold of the perfect race.

"The problem was two-fold. Firstly, he acted in secret, never openly where he could be opposed. The second problem was that he had grown immensely powerful while operating in the shadows of society. He was for all intents and purposes, untouchable, unassailable.

"One man made it his life's work to organize a resistance to this terrorist. Though but a teenager at the time he put together an organization opposed to this racist bigot. He organized his fellow students, studying at the time at a private school in Scotland, and taught them how to defend themselves and how to be professional rebels.

"For he knew that eventually this terrorist would grow so powerful that if he were not stopped he would take over the very government itself. By the time that this young man had turned but seventeen, the terrorist, who's real name was Thomas Marvolo Riddle, had actually managed to take over a small portion of the government.

"So, threatened as never before, the young man in question left school and traveled with two companions. He left behind the organization that he had created, there to sow seeds of dissention and rebellion, to make the organization that Tom Riddle had exist in chaos.

"These three teenagers combed the land for a way to bring down the terrorist, who was now working towards a complete takeover of the British government and an overthrow of the Queen. Over the next year the two groups of students managed to succeed in their appointed tasks. The group left behind made things openly chaotic for the terrorists, while the smaller group found the means to depose the terrorist.

"In a manner that bordered upon genius, this young man managed to lure the terrorist out into the open, at the very school where he had studied in Scotland. There he met the terrorist in open combat, and emerged victorious. The terrorist, Tom Riddle lay dead at his feet, and this young man proceeded to walk away from everything that he had held dear.

"Before he did so, however, he took the original organization, which was at the time entitled 'Dumbledore's Army' after the headmaster of the school, and turned it into an organization that the world does actually know today. If you need an elite bodyguard, or someone to accomplish the most impossible of tasks, you call upon the best of the best, the crème de la crème, as it were. You call upon the Legionnaires of Potter's Legion.

"We are here today to pay tribute to the founding members of that group. Would Miss Padma Patil, Miss Luna Lovegood, Miss Ginerva Weasley, Mister Neville Longbottom, Mister Ronald Weasley, Miss Hermione Granger and Mister Harry Potter please come forward." With a slight hesitation, Harry and company stood and made their way slowly to the front of the room.

Commodore Terekhov stepped up. "Attention to orders!" he barked. Every serving officer present stood came to their feet and stood at attention. He nodded back to the Prince.

"It is now my duty, and my enormous honor, by express direction of His Majesty, King William V of the United Kingdom, acting as his personal representative, to present to each of you the George Cross, awarded for acts of the greatest heroism or the most conspicuous courage in circumstances of extreme danger."

He stepped forward and moved up the line, pinning the cross on each of them in order, until he stood before Harry. "If I could have Miss Veate Delacour step forward please," he said. Veate was shocked, but recovered quickly. She came up as requested.

"Miss Delacour is Mister Potter's daughter, and by request of the King, I would be honored if she would be so kind as to act as his representative and pin the medal upon her father. You see, if possible, it is preferred to have the closest available relative present the medal. My dear, I believe you qualify."

Veate took the medal with slightly shaking hands. She might be a resident in the magical world and not the Muggle, but even she recognized the magnitude of what was being offered. As she pinned the medal proudly upon her father's breast she realized that tears were streaming down her cheeks.

"Now my dear, if you would kindly step aside, I have one more task to perform." As she did so, a group of servants came in and placed cushions at the feet of the Legionnaires. "Kneel, please," he said to them.

As they did so, Commodore Terekhov came forward and drew his dress sword and extended it, hilt first, to the Prince. He took it, looked at it for a moment and then walked over to Padma. "By the authority vested in me as His Majesty's representative, by His express commission, acting for and in His stead as Great Master of the Most Honorable Order of Bath, I bestow upon you the rank, title, prerogatives and duties of Companion of Bath." He touched first her right shoulder with the blade of the sword, then her left shoulder, and then her right shoulder again.

He moved to Luna. "I bestow upon you the rank, title, prerogatives and duties of Companion of Bath." Next was Ginny. "I bestow upon you the rank, title, prerogatives and duties of Companion of Bath." On to Neville. "I bestow upon you the rank, title, prerogatives and duties of Companion of Bath."

He moved up to Ron. "I bestow upon you the rank, title, prerogatives and duties of Knight Commander of Bath." It was then Hermione's turn. "I bestow upon you the rank, title, prerogatives and duties of Knight Commander of Bath."

At last he came to Harry. "It is my utmost honor and privilege to bestow upon you the highest class that I am allowed: Harry Potter, I bestow upon you the rank, title, prerogatives and duties of Knight Grand Cross of Bath."

"Arise Sirs and Dames." He welcomed Harry and the others to the Order.

It was then that the Demoness decided to join the party.

**Author's Note: **Yup, a cliffhanger. I'll try to get the next chapter out quickly. I'm also working on the next chapter for "Harry Potter's Army: A General's Lament" and "To Walk Into the Dragon's Den".

Thanks to each of you who have reviewed, and thanks so much to those of you who have responded to my poll. I appreciate each and every response.

Always remember: When in danger or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout...


	9. Pyrrhic Victory

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything other than the story line . All rights belong to J.K. Rowling

**Chapter Nine: Pyrrhic Victory**

"_Arise Sirs and Dames." He welcomed Harry and the others to the Order. _

_It was then that the Demoness decided to join the party._

She sat upon a camel's back, the crown of a Duchess hanging from the tie of her robe. She regally surveyed the scene in front of her. A feral smile curled her lips as her eyes lighted upon the Crown Prince.

Harry stepped in front of her. His Legionnaires fanned out behind him. He spared a quick glance to the two Legionnaires that he didn't personally know. "Get your charges away," he hissed quietly in parseltongue, praying that the Demoness wouldn't know what he was saying. It was one of the phrases that all Legionnaires were taught to recognize.

The two peeled off from the formation, taking up stations next to their charges. As they did so the Demoness laughed.

"You dare to defy me again, Harry Potter?" she asked. "Surely you don't think that you can stand before a Duke of Hell when she doesn't allow it?" She looked around at the assemblage. "I command twenty-six of the Legions of Hell. I can destroy you all with but a thought."

"You're welcome to try," Harry said softly.

"This shall not end well for you Harry. Should you persist this day you shall lose one of your own. If you defy me again, you shall lose more. Perhaps I shall take your mate from you, or perhaps your daugh…"

Harry sprang at her before she could complete what she was saying. His martial dance took him swiftly past her, his left hand striking through '_Sword of the Sun_' across the bridge of her nose and then as her head snapped back his right hand drove into her ribcage and through to her heart. It was two intertwined killing strokes. He watched as she toppled from the back of the camel as it sat there passively.

While this was taking place Hermione grabbed Veate and spun her around so that they could face each other. "While we keep her busy, you must perform the ritual. Look into my eyes, quickly now!" The two of them locked eyes.

Information slammed into Veate's head. She shook as the transfer was made. Never before had anyone invaded her thoughts like Hermione just had. Though she understood the need, it shook her to her core. She let go of Hermione at the same time the older witch let go of her. She knew what needed to be accomplished. She just hoped that she would be allowed the time to do what needed to be done.

An evil laughter filled the hall. The Demoness sat up, her nose reforming from its shattered state, and her perfect breast healing from the mortal blow that Harry had struck. "DID YOU REALLY THINK THAT YOU COULD HURT ME?" her voice reverberated with rage.

"Not really," Harry replied, "but it sure was satisfying." He pulled two wands from hidden arm holsters. The first was an eleven inch holly wand, plain in its manufacture, yet bristling with power. The second, in his left hand was fifteen inches and made from elder wood, with ornate carvings of what looked like bunches of elder berries along its length.

"YOU CANNOT WIN!" she thundered.

"But I can't lose," he countered. "You see, you may be a Duke of Hell, but I'm Master of Death, and as such I cannot be beaten. I may not be able to defeat you Demoness, but neither can you defeat me, and I'm not alone." Harry matched her feral grin.

With a snarl she waved her hand at him. A dozen flaming meteors materialized and flew at him, blazing across the room. People started screaming as the things literally burned everything they came near.

Harry flicked the holly wand and a swirling vortex opened in front of him. The meteors were sucked in and it closed with a resounding crack! He flicked the elder wand and a flaming lasso lashed out to coil around the demoness. Harry smiled as he pulled it taught around her. The stench of charring flesh filled the air.

A portal opened and ten of the Hounds of Hell burst through. Harry's Legionnaires leapt into action. Neville met the first hound and caught its open jaws in his hands. He gave a great shout and wrenched his hands open, straining against the gigantic beast.

Ron managed to stop one from pouncing on the Prime Minister, and he and the woman that was assigned to the PM slammed into the beast, knocking it from its feet.

Luna and Ginny had joined with Commodore Terekhov as the old officer was pumping a series of shots into one of the hounds that was bounding towards him. Ginny sent a flame cutter hex at it, sheering off one of its legs. It staggered but kept coming. With a mighty leap it soared at Terekhov and Luna jumped up to meet it. It slammed into her instead and as they tumbled backwards she stuck her wand into its mouth. A shaft of impossibly bright light shot out of the back of its skull as the two of them slammed into the fireplace with a sickening crunch.

Ginny looked on in horror as her lover was buried under a pile of rubble and ash with the massive thing, but she was unable to go to her aid as a massive weight landed on her shoulders and forced her to the ground.

Padma found herself busy with three of the things stalking her. She waved her hands at them and the repeated cough of an air gun filled her ears. Explosive rounds raked across the hellhounds' flanks and they were each knocked backwards as she emptied both clips into them. As they were busy regaining their feet, albeit somewhat unsteadily she pulled her wand and three quick _reductos_ at them. Their sides, already wounded from the rounds, exploded from the hexes. They dropped and Padma turned to see where the others had gotten to.

Hermione ducked as one of the hounds leapt at her. She watched it start to sail over her and she raked up at its unprotected underbelly with two specially crafted daggers that she had taken the time to make for herself from the fangs of the basilisk that had petrified her when she was thirteen. The wolf howled in pain as the two daggers quickly eviscerated it. It hit the floor and skidded to a stop right next to the Crown Prince before his Legionnaire could usher him from the room.

Harry, in the meantime, had kept the Demoness busy with a series of rapid hexes that he sent in a never ending stream at her. Most of them had been blocked by the angry Duke of Hell, but she couldn't stop all of them. Her body was twitching from the last lightning strike that Harry had launched at her, and the smell of ozone was thick in the air as her formerly perfect auburn hair was now a scorched mess fused to her scalp.

She screamed and launched a spell at Harry. He slashed down with his holly wand and the black streamers were partially stopped, but a small tendril penetrated his shield and impacted with his thigh, causing his leg to crumple beneath him and he fell, momentarily off balance. The Demoness took the advantage and hurled herself at him, thinking to physically tear him limb from limb.

She didn't reach him however. She was caught in mid leap by a hail of lead. The naval officers that had been present had managed to fend off one of the hellhounds and had turned their fire upon the being that had brought death to the ceremony they had attended. She was knocked away from Harry by the storm of gunfire that slammed into her.

There was a loud cracking noise and all eyes turned to Neville. He had finally managed to overpower the hellhound, wrenching its jaws apart with gusto. He stood over the corpse panting for a moment. Then his eyes caught sight of a hellhound standing over the prone form of Ginny Weasley. His leap caught the beast as it was about to sink its teeth into her neck. He toppled the hellhound over and it was struck by hexes from multiple directions.

Harry got to his feet and staggered for a moment before he conjured glowing chains to encase the struggling Demoness. As he did so he heard his daughter shout to him to get away from her. He jumped backwards and out of the circle that Veate was finishing inscribing with a piece of silver chalk.

As he landed runes of power flared to life, encompassing the now trapped Demoness. Veate started chanting, "_Banish il thee da questo regno, per andare e non da ritorno. Begone d'ora in poi e per sempre!"_ The Demoness let out a scream and faded from view.

Harry took a moment to limp over and give his daughter a huge hug. He was broken from his reverie when he heard Hermione speak to him.

"Harry, you'd better get over here."

With Veate's help he managed it. The Legionnaires were all standing around the ruined fireplace. Neville and Ginny had managed to dig through the rubble to reveal Luna Lovegood, her eyes closed and a serene expression on her face, her neck bent at an impossible angle.

Ginny clutched at her lover's body, refusing to let go. She wept openly for the woman that had helped her to get over the loss of her first love, the woman who taught her that she could feel again.

As the other Legionnaires stood protectively around her Harry let her grieve for a few minutes. After a while he gently touched her shoulder. She looked up at him, undisguised anguish in her eyes. He helped her to her feet and took her hand. He pulled her away from the scene and took her over to a bench seat.

Sitting down with her he looked at her, willing her to see the sincerity in his eyes. "Ginny, I can't bring her back, but I can give you a chance to say goodbye, to have closure. Would you like that?"

She nodded her head and he took her hand again. Pulling a black stone from his robes he turned it over in his hand three times. Luna faded into view in front of them.

"How…?" Ginny asked looking back and forth from Luna to Harry.

"The Resurrection Stone, and physical contact with me," he explained. "Her spirit is here, so that we might say goodbye. Hello Luna," he said softly.

"Hello Harry Potter," Luna replied. "Hello Gingerbread," she said to Ginny

"Oh Moonbeam, I miss you so much," Ginny said as tears streamed down her cheeks.

"Don't cry for me, Gingerbread, I'll be waiting for you when it's your turn. We all have to die some time, and now I can see my Mum and Dad again. When you get here I'll introduce you to Mum. It's just for a while Ginny. I died that a good man might live. I don't regret it. You need to help Harry get Gabrielle back. I'm counting on you to do your part Gingerbread, don't let me down."

"I promise," Ginny whispered. "Thank you Harry," she said as Luna faded from view. She leaned into him and hugged him hard as she started sobbing again. Harry held her and let her cry as his tears joined hers…

**Author's Note: **Just so you know, I am still wiping the tears from my eyes as I recover from writing the death of one of my all-time favorite characters. This chapter was very difficult for me to write, and I delayed it as long as I could, but sometimes you simply must write it.

For those who don't know, Gremory is a Demonic Duke of Hell talked about in the Lesser Key of Solomon. He always appears in the form of a beautiful woman, often on the back of a camel. He can see the future, and he can gain the love of a beautiful woman, to take her to his realm in Hell.

I see perhaps two or three more chapters and then the story is over. Thanks again for all of your support.

Sharptooth


	10. The Warehouse

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything other than the story line . All rights belong to J.K. Rowling

**Chapter Ten: The Warehouse**

The next day did not start well for Harry. He was immediately inundated with questions regarding a possible memorial service for Luna. It wasn't that he didn't want to have a service, on the contrary, he certainly did. It was simply that there wasn't time to spare to have the service at this time. Some of his comrades tended to disagree with him.

"I don't care about whether or not we have time, Harry," Ron said to him. "This is about the woman that my sister was in love with. She may not have meant anything to you…"

"Not meant anything to me?" Harry asked, his voice rising. "Not meant anything to me? How _dare_ you say something like that to me? Luna was one of my closest friends. I should think that you would remember that, _Ron_." Harry couldn't believe that he would say that to him.

"Yeah, well you've got a funny way of showing it, Harry," Ron said, his voice climbing in pitch to match Harry's. "You're not here for twenty years, and then you show up and lead us into a trap, and get her killed. Then you have the gall to stand there and say that we don't have time for a memorial. Well let me tell you something, Mr. 'I-saved-the-world' Potter, some of us have a little more common decency than that."

Harry was about to launch himself at Ron when Veate stepped between them. "Father, no!" she exclaimed. "He's hurting. We all are," she said as she turned to face Ron. "In case you've forgotten _Uncle_ Ron, my mother is still missing. Your best friend is scared to death that he'll be too late and Luna's death will be for nothing." She reached out and placed her hand on Ron's shoulder. "Can't you see that he feels guilty enough as it is?"

She turned back to her father, and gingerly wrapped her arms around him. He stiffened momentarily, unsure of himself or what to do, but slowly he relaxed into the embrace. It wasn't long before Harry was clutching to her, using her as a life line. All the emotion that he had been holding in for the last few days had to come out, thus one of the most powerful wizards in the world was reduced to a quivering mass on his daughter's shoulder. She glared at Ron as she led Harry away.

As they were moving away, Veate heard a resounding crack! as Ginny's palm connected with her brother's face. "How dare you attack him?" Ginny screamed at Ron. "He gave me a chance to say goodbye to my Moonbeam! He cared enough to hold me as I cried through my grief! Where were you while this was happening, huh, Ron? Where the _fuck _were _you _when my Moonbeam died? I didn't see you offering me your shoulder! Unlike you he has always been there when I needed him! Just because we didn't work out as a couple you've always carried a grudge. Well guess what Ron? It wasn't just Harry's fault that things didn't work out! I had something to do with that too. I never went after him when it was all over. I could have, but I didn't. So get the _bloody fuck_ off of your high horse and help us get through this mission. We're shorthanded as it is." She stalked off, leaving a shocked brother in her wake.

Veate couldn't help but smile. These people were so loyal to each other. She knew that Ron had just been lashing out because he was hurting. Her father would get over his hurt from the experience quickly. If she had learned nothing else, she had figured out that he was a very resilient person.

Besides, they had a warehouse to see to…

*0*0*

Veate showed up that night at the tactical simulator room, wondering what she would find there.

She walked into the entry chamber and found the doors to the simulator where shut tight. There was a set of stairs leading upwards from there with a sign reading 'Control Room' on it. She decided that if nothing else she could probably find someone there.

At the top of the stairs she went through an open door and found herself in a small room filled with Muggle electronics. Row upon row of machines sat here, many with various blinking lights which made no sense to Veate. There was one person setting at a machine in front of a very large bank of video screens. It was a woman, perhaps in her early thirties, with soft, curly brown hair cut in a short pixie cut. She had her back to Veate, and was intently studying one of the monitors.

"Hello?" Veate asked, announcing herself.

"Hello Ms. Delacour," the woman said without turning around. "Have a seat, make yourself comfortable. There's about another twenty minutes or so on the simulator, so you might as well be sitting as standing around." She swiveled her seat and faced the younger woman. "I'm Natalie, Natalie McDonald," she said, reaching out to shake Veate's hand.

"Do you really understand all of this?" Veate asked, gesturing to the rows of machines.

"Oh yes, I helped to set this up. I'm Muggle born you see, and I have a degree in electrical and theoretical engineering. It's amazing what Muggles have accomplished. They're way ahead of us in so many ways. The boss recognizes this and he utilizes as much of their technology as he can here."

"So I've noticed," Veate responded.

"So what's it like being the boss' daughter?" Natalie asked.

"I wouldn't know, I've only known him for a few days now." Veate shrugged. She had actually expected more of this, as she knew her father's reputation. She just hadn't expected him to hate it as much as he did. She noticed that Natalie was looking at her with a funny expression on her face.

"Look, I never knew him growing up. He wasn't there. I suppose it wasn't his fault, but I've had a hard time getting over the fact that he was never there for me when I was little. I needed a father, and I never had one, alright?" Veate was surprised at her defensiveness.

"Did you have your mother when you were growing up?" Natalie asked.

"Of course I did," Veate said harshly.

"Look, I was three years behind Harry in school. He was always emaciated from malnourishment when he arrived on the train each year. He had bruises that he tried to never let anyone see. He was painfully quiet, except when his temper got the best of him. He was withdrawn from everyone except for the few really close friends that he had."

"What's your point?" Veate asked.

"Harry Potter, the greatest hero the wizarding world has known for over a thousand years, was horribly abused at where ever it was that he had to go during the summer holidays. He had all the signs of someone living in an abusive household. Despite that he somehow found it within himself to still always do the proper thing. He could have turned dark; it would have been so easy for him. He has so much power at his disposal. Yet, in spite of everything he remains one of the benchmarks for what a wizard should be.

"No matter how bad you think things were for you growing up without him in your life, I guarantee you that it was hundreds of times worse for him. Because of what that made him, he's become the father figure to all of us. He's the one that worries himself sick when we have missions. You think that he's been out of touch; well he's only been out of touch with the rest of the world. I may not know where he was hiding himself, but he has the best tracking system in the world so that he knows where each of us is. Between him and Neville, they see to it that each Legionnaire is provided for and as secure as is possible in our line of work."

Veate sat and thought on what Natalie had said. Yet another facet of her father had been revealed to her. It was true that he seemed to worry himself over each one of his Legionnaires. Those had been very real tears that he had shed this morning.

"So what are they doing in there?" she asked, somewhat desperate now to change the subject.

"Harry's pushing them to memorize the layout of the building that they're planning to raid. He wants each of them to have as detailed a knowledge of the place as he can provide."

"How does he know what it's like inside?"

"Well, he had Padma find the plans for the building. Whatever is public record can be acquired. Hopefully the plans are accurate." Natalie shrugged her shoulders.

"So what happens if the plans are incorrect?" Veate had to ask.

"_No plan ever survives contact with the enemy_," Natalie quoted. "A Prussian officer named Helmuth von Moltke, who was a disciple of Clausewitz, stated that. What he actually said was in German, but it translates to _No plan of operations extends with certainty beyond the first encounter with the enemy's main strength._ He also said that _strategy is a system of expedients._ I suppose that it means that you have to come up a way to achieve your own ends, regardless of what you have to do to get there, whether or not it's morally or ethically correct. Between Harry and Ron they'll come up with a plan that will work. They may have to modify it on the fly, but Harry's really good at that."

"I hope you're right," Veate murmured.

"I have something that the boss wanted you to look at. It's our command console. I think that he wants you to understand it before tonight. Do you mind?"

Veate leaned forward. "Enlighten me…"

*0*0*

They arrived outside the warehouse later that night. The Parisian street was deserted, as it was close to three in the morning. They all sat in the back of a van while Harry summarized what they were going to do. "Ginny and Ron, you're going up top on brooms. There's a skylight there, just as was in the plans. Once the wards are down you enter there. Neville and Padma, you take exits marked two and three. Hermione, I want you at the front with me. We're the loud diversion." He looked at Veate. "If you want to cover up a covert attack, always time it to coincide with a loud frontal assault."

"So you two are the frontal assault?" Veate asked incredulously. "I know you're both good, but just the two of you?"

"Nope," Harry said with a grin. "You see that van over there?" Veate nodded. "That van is full of some of Commodore Terekhov's best marines. They're part of the Royal Navy's Special Boat Services. These are the best that the Muggles have. They'll be a part of the front wave."

"What about me father?" she asked.

"You're our C4I unit. That's command, control, communications, computer and intelligence. This van has all the systems that will be tied to each of us. You see this monitor? It will tell you how each of us is doing. If one of us goes down, you need to get them out of here. You can remote access an emergency portkey that we'll be wearing. Just touch your wand to the corresponding upper nameplate, and we'll be brought back here or you'll be brought to them if you touch the lower nameplate.

"If we need information, each of us will be utilizing surveillance charms that are tied to the system. These charms are specially designed by Hermione and Padma to integrate into our systems. It will be up to you to co-ordinate our efforts if we need it. It will be up to you to track each of us and make sure that we either get out if need be, or to each other if the situation calls for it.

"I trust you to use your own judgment on this. You have the monitoring system. We don't have the luxury of seeing the overall picture once we're in the middle of this." Harry smiled at her.

"But I'm not trained for this," Veate whispered.

"But you are my daughter, and I trust no-one else. I'm going to give you a helper, but you are in charge, not her. Do you understand that cadet?"

"Yes sir," she answered softly.

"Good, Natalie should be here shortly. As soon as she's here, we go in. I want us in, and into their systems as quickly as possible. Once we have the information that we need, I want us out of there. And this is the important part: we… leave… no-one… behind… Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal clear boss," Neville answered for the group.

*0*0*

"You studied these wards," Harry said to Hermione as they stood outside the set of bay doors. "What do you think it will take to bring them down quickly?"

"Well, since you want a diversion, why don't you go for the brute force approach while I use your attack as a carrier. My spell will piggy-back on yours and then flow back down the wards to the rune that power them. Once I've found them then I can disrupt them. Just be careful of backwash from the wards. It can be really nasty to an unsuspecting wizard."

"Hmm, perhaps I should get someone to shield while I devote my energies to the attack. Who do you suggest?"

"How about Alicia? If I remember correctly she had some of the strongest shields."

"As always Hermione, you're brilliant." Harry sent out the summons and within moments Alicia Spinnet had apparated in. A quick fill-in later, all was in readiness to begin the assault. Harry, Hermione and Alicia were in front of the wards, while a full two squads of SBS operatives were at the ready behind them.

Taking out his wand Harry slashed it downwards at the doors. There was a thunderous CRACK! and the wards reverberated as a huge bolt of lightning impacted them. Energy crackled along the wards and rippled around, gaining strength as it sped all along the perimeter of the building. Soon it was speeding back around and a charge of pure plasma energy shot back out at Harry. With a flick both he and Alicia threw up shields. The plasma crashed into them, howling with incandescent fury.

"Wow!" shouted Harry as his hair stood on end. He felt Hermione's spell coalesce with his own as he sent another bolt of lightning into the wards. Once again a bolt of energy lashed back at the wizard and witches and once again it met with nigh impenetrable shields.

This time Harry chose another tactic and used his magical energy to set up a harmonic in tune with the wards. Once again Hermione's spell piggy-backed on the top of his, but this time there was a difference. The harmonics seemed to be assisting her spell to find the rune stones that were powering the shields. Her own spell then subtly changed the harmonic resonance, shaking the stones in such a way as to be counterproductive.

Harry increased the power to his spell, hiking the harmonics up and into the supersonic range. The building was quavering and becoming very hard to see as the wards vibrated harder and harder under the onslaught. Harry was starting to shake along with it, the vibrations backing down the connection through his wand.

Just as he thought that he would have to change tactics again, the rune stones burst under Hermione's spell. The magical backlash reverberated out and along all pathways. Alicia managed to throw up a shield at the last instant, and the energy literally exploded against it, throwing the three of them backwards into the air.

Harry came to his senses within seconds, but it was seconds that he didn't have. He saw the wall rushing at him and realized that it was him rapidly flying at the wall. With a glance he saw Alicia twist in midair and with a crack she was gone, having disapparated. He looked around desperately for Hermione! There she was, but she was limp, looking unconscious and speeding towards her doom just as fast as he was.

_Bloody Hell!_

There was only one thing he could think of to do, and it would surely give away one of his most tightly guarded secrets, but it was Hermione that would pay if he didn't. Reaching down within himself he searched for the beast within. He hadn't done this for years. It was bloody difficult to concentrate, but he was determined.

He felt the change come on him in a rush. For him it was always a painful transformation. He was _Harry Bloody Potter_, but this was one of the most difficult things for him to attempt. He always seemed to have trouble with it. His torso lengthened and filled out, his legs shifting shape as his knees shifted direction. He felt the claws pop out on his feet, and his hands morphed into long taloned claws. Wings sprouted from his shoulder blades and long tail whipped out behind him. He felt his face contort and his jaw hardened as it solidified into a sharply curved predator's beak. Where Harry Potter once tumbled through the air a sleekly formed griffon now unfurled its wings and powered its way over towards Hermione.

The preferable thing would have been to catch her with his hind legs and use her momentum to whip them away from the building. Unfortunately his body wasn't properly configured for that. It would have to be the front legs, as those were his bird-like gripping appendages. He had to get closer to the building in his swoop than he would have liked.

He felt the armored weave of her robes catch on his claws and he pulled up, his massive wingspan pumping for all he was worth. As their forward momentum fought with his wings for dominance he felt his tendons stretch as Hermione's hundred and fifteen pound body reached almost a thousand pounds under the eight gee maneuver he was pulling. He let out a shriek of protest and managed somehow to avoid the building, whipping his unwieldy charge around as he spun into a more efficient flying position.

He swooped down towards the back of one of the vans and set Hermione down, transforming back to human as quickly as he could. He could hear the tell-tale sound of multiple SA80-A2 assault rifles being fired. Along with that there were flashes of green light that signified the fact that wizards were indeed involved in this battle. He had to get back in there!

He cast a silent and wandless _enervate_ on Hermione and her eyelids flashed open. He reached down with a hand and helped her up. She came up quickly, her wand somehow still in her possession. A quick summoning charm and his own wands flew into his outstretched hands.

They sprinted into the fray, searching desperately through the drifting smoke and haze to find the enemy in the chaos of battle.

*0*0*

Veate watched her father and Hermione fly backwards and out of sight with a shriek. She thought of using the emergency portkey, but at the last second her father transformed and saved the bushy-haired witch from what would have been a very messy death. She let out a breath that she didn't realize that she had been holding.

Natalie had been watching the monitors, and she saw the others enter once the wards were down. Ron and Ginny were swooping down on the battle, raining suppressive fire on the wizards that were in the bottom of the warehouse. Neville and Padma had entered and were systematically searching the rooms in the back for records of some sort.

*0*0*

It was in the third room that she looked in that Padma struck pay-dirt. In this office there was a Muggle computer. She sat at the desk and powered it up, hoping that she would be allowed the time to crack into its systems and find the information that they so desperately needed. She pulled out a cord and plugged it into one of the ports and then plugged the other end into one of the devices that she carried with her. Immediately numbers started flashing on the screen as the small device started running through thousands upon thousands of possibilities.

She attached another cable from the first device into a second device and left it to run, hopefully it would crack the encryption code and then the second device could do its work, finding and sifting through the sea of information, recording all as it searched through files to find anything that could be of help.

She had just finished hooking up the second device when she heard the soft creaking of a floor board outside the office. Checking that all was secure she leapt for higher ground, just as a green light flashed into the spot where she just was, causing the chair to burst apart violently.

She flicked her wand and webs shot across the doorway. She heard the curse as someone ran head first into them and became entangled. A quick _reducto_ reduced the wall next to her into rubble and she tumbled out into the corridor.

She came up amidst three attackers, clearly surprised by her maneuver.

She ducked under a mad swipe that one of them took. She spun around and into a crouch, her left foot flashing out in a side snap kick and felt the nearest attacker's hip give with a satisfying snap. He crumpled in a heap. Her spin took her deeper into her crouch, and a red streak of light flashed over her head.

Extending her left hand she hyper-extended her middle finger, touching the fingernail to the barrel of the air gun mounted on the back of her hand. It coughed twice and two rounds stitched into the wizard that had fired at her. That wizard seemed to bend over backwards as all his muscles locked into a tetany. Apparently this wizard's strongest muscles were in his back and the backs of his upper arms and thighs. His legs were bent backwards and his arms were out straight as he locked into position. The potion in the rounds would lock him in this position for up to six months. Unless he received constant medical attention he would starve, as there was no cure for the potion other than time.

She made to go after the third wizard when a hex hit her across the back. She was flung forward and pain shot through her. Everything burned across her back! She rolled away from the next hex as it hit the floor where she had been. Pieces of floor slammed into her as the hex struck.

As she turned onto her elbows and looked at her attacker, she could see that he was smiling at her. His leap carried him directly at her. She raised her wand and fired as he slammed into her. She was thrown backwards, smashing her back against the floor and knocking the wind out of her as something splattered across her face. With a raspy gasp she realized that it was grey matter from the man's brains that had hit her. Her curse had taken him square in the face!

She tried to get up and her vision swam. As blackness threatened to overtake her she touched her emergency beacon with her wand and passed out.

*0*0*

Thanks to the tracking charms Veate and Natalie saw Padma go down. Natalie turned to Veate, a questioning look on her face.

"Go," Veate said. "We've got to get the information out, and bring back Padma!" With a nod Natalie touched the beacon directed portkey and disappeared. Veate went back to monitoring the others.

*0*0*

It didn't take Neville long to find something laced with wards. The filing cabinet obviously held records that someone didn't want to be found. He had to overcome the wards if he wanted to get at the information within. He pulled his wand and set to work.

*0*0*

Harry was doing everything he could to keep the soldiers from being killed in the fighting. They were brave and skilled, but they had no defense against the killing curse. He would summon a soldier out of the way here, flick some debris to stop a curse from striking there. All in all he was accomplishing what he set out to do, and had to trust in Hermione, Ginny and Ron to do the rest.

He sensed rather than saw the flame cutter curse streak at him and managed to get a partial shield up in time to deflect it. It ricocheted off his shield and slammed into someone beside him. The impact point was unfortunately directly on the grenade strapped to the soldier's web belt. It exploded on contact, raining shrapnel in every direction. The soldier, thankfully, never felt the explosion that claimed his life.

Harry shifted his shield in time to cover his face and upper torso, but shrapnel ripped into his legs, severing the fibular collateral ligament in his knee. No longer able to support himself he went down in a heap, his wands flying from his hands as he did so. As he crumpled a familiar form emerged from the smoke.

The long blonde hair, cold gray eyes and aristocratic face were instantly recognized by Harry as his antagonist approached.

"I told you that you would eventually pay for what you had done to me, Harry Potter," Lucius Malfoy sneered as he walked up to Harry. "You have cost me dearly half-blood, and I shall see you dead before another minute passes!"

*0*0*

Neville was so wrapped up in breaking down the wards that for the first time in two decades he failed to notice the approach of an unfriendly presence behind him. Walden McNair crept up behind the unsuspecting Legionnaire and hefted his executioner's axe behind the man who had cost him his freedom all those years ago in the Department of Mysteries.

*0*0*

Veate saw them both at the same time and didn't know what to do. She could get to one of the portkeys, either her father's or her boyfriend's. If she hesitated both would be lost, but if she acted then she had to choose one over the other and surely one of them would die. Making up her mind she dove for one portkey and fired a stunner at the other's emergency beacon. It was the best she could do.

*0*0*

Lucius Malfoy slowly pulled his wand and leveled it at the man he wanted dead more than any other. "_Avada ke_…"

He didn't get any more out as someone slammed into him. As he was falling to the ground he looked up to see ice blonde hair almost the same shade as his own falling with him. He struggled to bring his wand to bear when he heard the pop of a stopper being pulled and before he could do anything blinding pain shot through his face as acid splashed over him. He screamed, grabbing at his ruined face. As he tried to sit up Harry cast the first spell he could think of wandlessly: "_Bombarda Maxima!_" he screamed. Malfoy's upper torso exploded, making it very hard for him to draw a breath through the sucking chest wound. He fell, dead before he hit the ground.

*0*0*

Neville's emergency beacon went off and he immediately hit the floor. As he dropped the executioner's axe whistled over his head. He popped up and smashed his hand through the haft of the axe, snapping it off cleanly. He snatched the head of the axe out of the air in a move that would have made Harry in his day as the youngest seeker in history proud. As McNair stared in disbelief Neville buried the axe head in the Death Eater's forehead, neatly splitting it in two.

Neville took in a quick cleansing breath. He had to get back to work on those wards, but he was determined to thank Veate and Natalie for the warning that had saved his life.

*0*0*

The rest of the battle was over rather quickly. From their vantage points on their brooms, Ron and Ginny made short work of the remaining wizards. Within minutes the troops had captured the eight that were still alive. Total casualties: eighteen wizards and three SBS troopers killed, six troopers injured, two Legionnaires injured. Though it was a tactical victory, it was a somber group that made their way back to Legion Compound on the Island of Sark.

*0*0*

They were all gathered in the infirmary as both Harry and Padma needed to spend the night. Padma's armor had stopped most of the hex from getting through, but it was still sufficiently nasty to make her feel miserable and woozy for hours later. Harry's leg would heal overnight, so he was stuck in a hospital bed. It was a position that he had some familiarity with though…

"So you're sure it's Brazil then?" Harry was asking.

"Yeah boss, the Muggle records place the company out of Brazil, and the parchments we found inside the filing cabinet gave us troop strength; and it looked like someone wanted to make sure that they could find the place. Take a look at this." Neville handed him a small piece of parchment.

The parchment had been written in a hand writing that Harry would never forget. It was short and squat and even that reminded him of a toad. Umbridge herself had written this message.

_The central offices of MagiKat Inc. are located at 12 degrees 28 minutes South Latitude by 49 degrees 25.6 minutes West Longitude. _

"So, it seems we're going to Brazil," Harry commented. The room filled with predatory grins as they realized that by this time tomorrow it would probably be all over. Umbridge and company would never know what hit them…

**Author's Note: **So one last chapter for Brazil, and then an epilogue to wrap things up. It's been a lot of fun so far, I hope you've enjoyed it.

Sharptooth


	11. Showdown

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything other than the story line . All rights belong to J.K. Rowling

**Chapter Eleven: Showdown**

"_So, it seems we're going to Brazil," Harry commented. The room filled with predatory grins as they realized that by this time tomorrow it would probably be all over. Umbridge and company would never know what hit them…_

"Neville, how many graduates do we have available here on the island?" Harry asked.

Neville reached into his robes and pulled out a Muggle palm pilot. Tapping it with his fingers he searched for the most current count. "Fourteen," he replied after a momentary pause.

"Good, spread them out to replace as many non-critical lieutenants as we can, then juggle the lieutenants to replace anyone with a rank of captain or better. Recall as many of the senior officers as possible. I want to hit this with as experienced a team as we can. We need them here tomorrow. Oh, and elevate the pay for the graduates by a grade for the temporary assignment. If they distinguish themselves it needs to become permanent. Place the recalled officers on hazardous duty pay."

Neville nodded and left to carry out the orders. It was going to mean a complete shuffle of personnel, and he didn't have his second to help him with it, as Padma was still in the infirmary along with Harry. He was sure that he would be burning the midnight oil to accomplish what Harry needed.

As he was striding away he found a familiar blonde at his elbow, matching him stride for stride. "Can I help?" she asked.

"Yeah," Neville replied. "We might even be able to get a little sleep tonight if you do."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that, mister," she snarked with a grin. He shook his head as he pondered her thinly veiled offer.

"I wanted to thank you," he said. "Natalie said that it must have been you that got out a warning to me. You saved my life today, and I hear you saved your father's too. So thank you for that. Harry means everything to us here, and I kind of like being able to keep breathing too."

She grabbed his arm as they continued walking. "Your welcome," she murmured. "I think I'd like to keep you around for a while longer. You did make a promise to me after all."

Neville stopped and looked at her. He slowly wrapped his arms around her. "I care about you Veate. I can't say that I love you yet, it's too soon for that, but I care, and I am interested in what you offer me." He placed a massive hand under her chin and tilted her head up. Leaning down he placed a soft kiss on her lips and then pulled away, a silly grin plastered on his face.

Her grin matched his as she steered him back towards the command center. "Come on you big lug, we've got work to do…"

*0*0*

It was a somewhat larger group that sat in the briefing room before they got ready to launch the operation. It now included George Weasley, Parvati Patil, Angelina Johnson, Katie Bell, Dean Thomas, Cho Chang, Lee Jordan, Michael Corner, Terry Boot and Susan Bones. Along with Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Neville, Natalie, Alicia, Padma and Veate they had nineteen going in the effort to rescue Gabrielle Delacour.

"Alright," Harry said as he entered the room. "I want to give out the assignments for this operation. Ron, you're in command of our air support squad. Your team shall consist of Ginny, George, Angelina, Katie and Alicia.

"Neville, you'll have second squad, and you shall take your team on a Southern approach. Your team shall be Padma, Parvati, Terry, Lee, and Dean. It shall be your job to make sure that they are so involved with your group that they don't see first squad until it's too late.

"I shall be taking first squad in from the North, attempting to infiltrate quietly and rescue Gabrielle. Assuming that we are successful, first squad shall then escort her to the perimeter and then two members shall escort her back to Delta base. First squad shall be myself, Hermione, Cho, Michael, Susan and Natalie."

"What about me, Father?" Veate asked.

"You shall be at Delta base in the flarecraft. Your job shall be to monitor the situation. If necessary you shall come in and meet the pair that shall escort your mother. She is the number one priority. That's what this is all about. If necessary, getting her to safety trumps any other concern.

"I wanted to get satellite images for us, but it appears that Umbridge has made the location unplottable, and under the fidelious. Unfortunately for her, and fortunately for us, she didn't think that someone would keep her little note." He passed the note around for everyone to read.

"Once everyone is in position, the air team shall go in under disillusionment and scout things out. Ron, send a flyer to update us, do not use magical means of communication until we can give the all clear.

"Also of importance, the order in which I gave out the team members is the chain of command for that team. If anything happens to the leader command passes down the chain. Each of you have emergency portkeys, and emergency beacons for the rest of us to home in on.

"Are we all clear?" Harry asked at last. A chorus of affirmatives gave him the answer he was looking for.

*0*0*

The trip to Delta base consisted of a portkey trip that deposited them in a small temporary building. There was a communications station with monitors set up around it. A couple of seats were the only other accoutrements in the room.

Harry led them out into the Brazilian heat. It was exceptionally hot and humid, and each of them were thankful for the cooling charms worked into their uniforms.

He turned to Lee. "Good job setting this up so quickly. Alright people, lets be about it."

As they walked out their gaze was drawn to the flarecraft. It was long and sleek, made from some lightweight composite. It had a front end that was distinctly boat-like. The back end was a passenger compartment, designed to let troops in and out quickly. The engines were multiple turbines located underneath the vehicle. The chopped lines of the craft made it look extremely stable and maneuverable.

"You can handle this, right?" Harry whispered into Veate's ear.

"Yeah, Hermione implanted the knowledge this morning. It shouldn't be a problem at all." She paused momentarily. "Please be careful Father, and bring Mother home." She rocked hugged him briefly and kissed him on the cheek, making him blush crimson, while grinning like a madman.

"I promise, _fille aimee_," he responded softly, making her start and smile at him. He never failed to amaze her. He had taken the time to learn a phrase in her native tongue, and one that meant so much to her as well. Her father was turning out to be quite a man...

*0*0*

Neville Longbottom leaned back against a tree, his disillusioned form blending in almost perfectly, and gazed out at the complex in front of him. He had just sent word to Harry that he would begin his assault in five minutes. All seemed quiet inside the complex, but he knew that this was deceiving. All to soon they would be in a serious fight, and it was his job to ensure that the bulk of the fighting would be here in the Southern end. He hoped that no-one would be seriously hurt, or worse, but he knew that it was too much to ask. Somebody would not be going home tonight, he knew it in his bones.

*0*0*

Ginny Weasley felt the familiar thrill of an impending fight coursing through her. It was a feeling that she embraced. Today was the day that she struck back, that she took revenge for her Moonbeam. Today was the day that she made that bitch pay…

*0*0*

Cho Chang sat _seiza_, her eyes closed in meditation. The zen state that she sought seemed to be just out of her reach on this day. Realizing that she probably wouldn't be able to achieve what she desired until the battle was upon her, she unfolded from her position and stood up. She checked that both of her hook swords were in place, secured to her back. Checking her other weapons she decided that she was ready. Harry hadn't asked her for anything for a very long time. She had failed him then, and yet he still took the time to train her. She vowed to never let him down again…

*0*0*

A slight vibration signaled to Neville that it was time, and he lightly flipped the small round rune stone that Hermione had supplied to him into the air towards the entrance to the complex. It spun lazily in the air, over and over, until it impacted with unseen wards. Power flared from the tiny stone, and within seconds the wards flashed and went down. Alarms started blaring almost immediately.

His team flashed forward and into the complex, and as quickly as that the attack was on! He followed them in, looking around to see what he could see, automatically categorizing everything into potential targets and threats.

*0*0*

Ron saw the wards fall, and with that his team swept into the compound to supply cover for Neville's team. He wished he had support to give to Harry, but he understood that Harry's part was more covert, and anything that Ron's team would try could be counter-productive.

Just as Angelina took the first responder that they discovered off his feet with a hex he heard a sound that chilled him to the bone. He had all too much experience with this sound, as he had heard it when he was a fourth year student. Then, he had heard it even more close up when he was on the hunt for Voldemort's horcruxes. He would never forget his own personal encounter with a dragon!

Thus, he frantically tried to shake off the fear that gripped him. He had a full squad of fliers, they could take down a dragon. Unfortunately for him there was an answering call. It seemed that they had two dragons! With a sharp whistle he called his squad to him. They had a job to do, and they had to see that Neville and Harry accomplished their missions!

*0*0*

Harry led his team in through what was the equivalent of the back door. With the wards down it was relatively easy to slip in. He hoped that they would be able to get in and out quickly. If they could accomplish their primary objective Harry would consider it a victory. The secondary goal of taking down Umbridge's organization could wait if the primary objective could be garnered.

They crept to the edge of a building and Harry peered around the corner. He spotted what he felt was their objective. The building was heavily guarded, despite the commotion that Neville and company were causing elsewhere. Harry had to hand it to the bitch, her folks seemed to be well disciplined. He counted eight guards there in front. Reaching out with his senses he felt for any shields or wards. They were there. The guards were protected from spell fire.

Swearing softly he motioned for the team to prepare. He signaled them the guard count and the fact that they were protected from spell fire. Motioning for Cho and Michael to move to the left flank, and for Susan and Natalie to take the right flank he and Hermione got ready to hit them head on.

Cho and Michael faded from view and edged out into position. Susan and Natalie did the same. Harry gave them to the count of twenty to prepare and then he and Hermione stepped out into view. A flash of red came straight at him and with a spin he was no longer in its path.

He and Hermione began their martial dance, moving rapidly forwards towards the set of guards. It was their job to handle the middle four, while the others handled those on the flanks, allowing the heavy hitters to do their job.

As he approached he saw Cho and Michael appear in his peripheral vision. Michael twirled in dancing through '_The Thousand Klick Journey'_. His feet swept through where his unsuspecting foe was standing, taking said opponent off his own feet. He went down hard. Michael continued into '_The Flower Unfurling_' as both of his feet caught the man as he was falling. He didn't get back up.

Cho flowed in smoothly. Emei piercers seemed to materialize in her hands, the stabbing blades spinning around on the attached rings. Her opponent saw the flash of the high-carbon steel and hesitated as he tried to process what he was seeing. Using the distraction to her advantage Cho shifted into '_Magician's Hands_'. While the wizard watched helplessly the piercers did their job, one exploding into his temple and out through his optic nerve and eyeball, and the other up under his chin and out of the bridge of his nose. With a casual flick of her wrists she ripped both piercers out along the length of the weapons, mangling his face and destroying his capacity for continued life.

Harry had his hands full however, and he never did realize what portions of the ninety-seven steps he moved through. All he knew was that his two foes were in front of him, and then he had moved through them, and they were down, never to get up again. He met Hermione at the steps. She had a huge grin on her face. When the others got there only Natalie had any sign that she had encountered any problems. Her uniform was torn from where her target had managed to get a grip before he went down, trying to swallow his own adam's apple.

After disillusioning the bodies, they entered the building in search of Gabrielle.

*0*0*

Parvati and Padma were spinning in synchronization to each other as they fanned their hands around them. Four hand mounted air guns spat out potion-laced darts towards their foes, who were all around. Within moments wizards all around them had dropped to the ground, their muscles locked into bizarre positions determined by the relative strengths of said muscles.

Having run the air guns dry they pulled their wands and prepared to defend against any random hexes coming their way…

*0*0*

Dean, Terry and Lee were locked in combat with five wizards. Spells flashed back and forth. Terry was defending as Dean and Lee were providing counter fire. Lee sent a series of blasting hexes at the wizards, forcing them to shield themselves or die. While he was doing this Dean pointed his wand at the ground and sent a shock wave rippling towards them. Unprepared as they were, it took them off of their feet. With their shields failing along with their concentration Lee's blasting hexes ended the fight.

They smiled at each other until Dean pointed up into the sky. Two shapes swept down at them. Each was about fifteen feet long with smooth copper colored scales and black ridge markings along their backs. Small horns on the heads marked these as Peruvian Vipertooths.

"Oh fuck, they've got dragons," Lee muttered. He caught a flash of green out of the corner of his eyes and spun just in time to see Terry crumple as the spell struck him while he was distracted. A _reducto_ struck Lee's wand hand as he stood there gaping at his friend's death. His hand and wand were blown apart and he started to sink to his knees when Dean grabbed him and scampered for cover.

As they retreated a fireball struck the ambush, ending that threat as Padma struck back for her old classmates and friends.

*0*0*

The dragons started their attack run, having spotted fresh prey. They hadn't been allowed to hunt for weeks, and they were both hungry and irritable. Watching one of their prey fall and the another having to be helped away by a third, the dragons literally started to salivate with anticipation.

Three cries of _reducto_! rang out as spells ripped into the flank of the rear dragon. It cried out its displeasure as it spun out of control and crashed into one of the nearby buildings. The first dragon however, spotted the three approaching him and managed somehow to not only avoid their spells but lashed about and sped right into their midst.

Ginny found herself face to face with one of the meanest of the world's dragons. Not knowing what to do she reached out wildly and felt something solid materialize in her hand. Hefting a weight that she knew instinctively was a weapon she swung it in an arc at the dragon. She screamed in agony as the dragon sunk its eight inch teeth into her leg, but she felt the sword that had appeared in her hand connect and smoothly slice through the dragon's neck.

As she started to spin out of control she looked in her hand and saw the words Godric Gryffindor etched along the blade. She touched the blade to her emergency portkey and disappeared.

*0*0*

Harry's squad found themselves prepping to enter the main chamber, where he was sure that they would find Gabrielle. What else was in there he wasn't sure, but he knew that they couldn't not go in. Realizing it was a trap didn't really help. They would be as swift and as careful as they could, but some things couldn't be helped.

The room was warded against concealment charms, so a stealthy approach wasn't going to help this time. Finally they decided that the straight on approach would have to do.

Bursting in the door Harry, Cho and Susan rolled right while Hermione Michael and Natalie moved to the left. In the room were at least three dozen wizards and witches, and five giants, each with only one eye in their heads! Cyclops! At the back of the room Harry could clearly see Gabrielle, bound in layer upon layer of conjured ropes and chains. Umbridge was there as well, her wand at Gabrielle's throat! Behind them Harry could make out Gremory's auburn locks.

If ever Harry had been in a tight spot, this was one of the worst. He looked at Hermione, desperately willing her to catch his eye. She did so and quickly she was inside his head. He outlined a quick plan and then she was off, leading her half of the squad around the perimeter.

Michael had two wands out, while Cho had taken out a jiujiebian: a nine-section whip-chain. It had eight inch metal rods linked together with rings. She started swinging it slowly around her, arcing it through the air, building momentum with each lazy swing.

As Hermione and her team got into position and the enemy troops moved to counter Harry spoke a single word: "Ekpayeite."

He felt the power flood up inside of him and burst out in a wave. The air rippled and bent as it ripped across the room suddenly. As it passed each of the Cyclops they shuddered and shook before they were turned inside-out and exploded in gory masses! The wave continued and struck the Demoness head-on. She screamed as her demonic power rose to meet the wave generated by the word of power Harry had uttered. Her form rippled and phased as she fought desperately against the onslaught.

Harry watched as the Demoness wavered and swayed from the effort. As she staggered backwards a gate opened underneath her and hundreds of clawed hands struck out at her, dragging her down and through the gate with a terrified scream. Harry smiled weakly. He had never tried uttering a word of power before. Then his world started to spin, and all went black as he toppled forward into oblivion.

Cho leapt forward over Harry's body, her chain-whip whistling through the air. Everywhere it whipped out wizards fell, unable to stand before the viciousness of her attack. Ribs caved in and spines snapped as the chain whirled through the air.

Michael, Susan, Natalie and Hermione started firing off spells everywhere. Curses and hexes flew indiscriminately back and forth. Throughout this, nobody noticed a toad-like witch make her way around the outside of the hall towards Harry's prone form.

*0*0*

Veate sat at the controls of the flarecraft debating with herself about what she should do, when Ginny Weasley portkeyed in. She was in obvious agony from the massive set of puncture wounds in her thigh. Casting a quick cauterizing spell on her leg and handing her a bezoar Veate made her decision. She settled back into the pilot's seat and fired up the thrusters. Smoothly lifting the craft off the ground she guided it up to tree-top level and punched the engines to rocket towards the complex.

*0*0*

Harry groaned and tried to lift himself up from the floor. He had so little strength left. As he struggled he heard a simpering little laugh, and then the word he dreaded: "_crucio_!"

Such was the depth of Dolores Umbridge's hatred for Harry Potter that his world exploded in pain the likes of which Harry had never before experienced! He cried out and collapsed as his heart hammered in his chest. He writhed on the ground and tried to claw his own eyes out. He had withstood this curse from Voldemort himself, but nothing could compare with the agony he was in now. His depleted state combined with her hatred left him completely overwhelmed.

Umbridge let her hatred flow and fuel the curse. _Harry fucking Potter_ had destroyed her world. She had held power and esteem in the wizarding world and he had toppled it around her. It was his fault that she had spent fifteen years in the hell that was Azkaban. It was his fault that mudbloods were allowed to steal pureblood magic. It was his fault that she had suffered through countless humiliations. This was her chance for revenge and she was taking it! She reveled in his pain, she thrilled as the drool started to trickle from his mouth!

Cho spun as Harry's screams cut through the chaos behind her. She realized that Umbridge was out of the range of her chain-whip. She reached for her wand, but it wasn't there! She dropped her chain-whip and released her hook swords from her back. As she started to spin towards Umbridge she connected the swords by the hooks and lashed out, effectively doubling her reach. With a satisfying _snick _the swords struck.

Umbridge let out a startled "urk!" as she felt the sting in her back. Blood bubbled up out of her mouth as the repercussions of the sword slicing between her ribs, through her spine, lungs and heart and out the other side in less than a second became apparent! She crumpled to the floor, dead before she struck it.

Cho rushed to Harry's side. He was gasping, sucking in great breaths of air. His eyes had rolled back into his head and his entire body was twitching from the curse. She grabbed his wand and touched it to his emergency portkey and the two of them disappeared.

Hermione reached Gabrielle and with a muttered "finite incantatum," she was free. Hermione helped her to her feet and with a touch of her portkey, they were gone.

*0*0*

Veate heard the others portkey in as she pushed the craft to its limits to reach the compound. Neville had called in a mayday and she was bound and determined to get there.

As the flarecraft passed over the first of the buildings she spotted the dragon. It was stalking Neville and Dean as they fired spell after spell at it, to no effect. She spotted Ron and his group picking off random wizards around the compound, effective keeping them away from the others.

She flicked a switch and a targeting program sprung to life in front of her. She swung the craft around until the dragon was in her cross-hairs and she opened up with a pair of 35mm cannons. The dragon was tossed in the air like a rag doll as the bullets ripped through it.

She landed the craft and lowered the hatch so that Neville and Dean could bring Lee and Terry in. Once they were in she took off again and maneuvered so that each of the fliers could swoop in. Once that was done she was off for the main hall. She found the others just as they left the building, their beacons activated. A couple of wizards tried to blast the craft, but its armor took care of their feeble attempts. After a momentary pause they were rising up and shooting out of the complex.

*0*0*

They were back in the infirmary at Legion Complex, and most of the group was huddled around Ginny's bed. She was in intense agony and growing weaker with each passing minute. Harry held her hand on one side of the bed, pumping what little magical reserves he had into her in a desperate effort to assist her in fighting off the venom that was in the bite she received from the dragon. The bezoar hadn't helped, they hadn't been able to find an antidote and Harry just didn't have the strength to continue.

"I'm sorry," he cried hoarsely as he swayed from the effort.

"It's alright Harry," she answered softly. "I'm going to see my Moonbeam." She let out a great shuddering sigh and sank back into her pillow, her eyes closing as she breathed her last breath.

Harry collapsed back onto the floor, his eyes wide and unseeing as the shock of the situation took hold. He trembled uncontrollably as the guilt tore through his psyche. _Another of his best friends gone! All his fault!_ A cry of shear agony and grief ripped itself from him and he flailed helplessly in rage and frustration. He quickly found himself held in the arms of two platinum blonde women. Gabrielle and Veate had reached him. They couldn't take the pain from him, but they could be there as a support system.

Ron was weeping on Hermione's shoulder, and Padma and Parvati were comforting Neville. George had found himself embraced by his old Quidditch teammates.

They had lost two more this day, and another was grievously injured, yet they had accomplished what they set out to do. Now all they had to do was find a way to pick up the pieces.

**Author's Note: **A few chapters ago the Demoness Gremory told Harry that if he continued on his course the day would end in tragedy. She then told him that if he continued past that it would be even worse. I thought long and hard. What would be worse than losing Luna? My answer was in this chapter. Despite breaking things off with her, and not returning to her, Harry loved Ginny much more than he ever realized.

The word of power that Harry uses is Greek for explode. Since it was in Greek, it only affected Greek affiliated things: the cylopses and the Demoness...

Just an epilogue to go now. Thanks for all the reviews, positive and negative both. I sincerly appreciate you all.

Sharptooth


	12. Epilogue

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything other than the story line . All rights to Harry Potter belong to J.K. Rowling and all rights to Deadliest Catch belong to the Discovery Channel.

**Epilogue**

"Of all the women that I have known, never have I known any that meant more to so many people as Luna and Ginny." Harry stopped for a moment and wiped a tear from his eye. "Both of these wonderful women have touched so many lives, made a difference so many times. I can't really believe that they're gone…"

He had to take a moment to compose himself. When the services had been arranged, he had volunteered to give the eulogy. He didn't feel right fobbing it off on anyone else. It was his fault that they had become involved with being Legionnaires, and as their commander and friend he would not hear of anyone else taking this duty.

"Gingerbread and Moonbeam, those were their pet names for each other. Now that they have joined each other in the next great adventure, the two of them have all eternity to share their endless love. I know that these two will take the afterlife by storm, just as they did in this world.

"Ginevra Molly Weasley was the first person that showed me that Harry Potter could be truly loved in a romantic sense. Luna Selene Lovegood was the first person to fully understand the mixed up mess that is Harry Potter. She had a capacity to see things that no-one else could see, not even my best friends. Neither of these two ever judged me, and they both gave me everything that I could accept from them freely and openly. To say that I loved them both in return would be a gross understatement."

"I invite you, the people that knew them the best, to stand and share your story of either or both of them, that we might come to a better understanding of these two remarkable women, and just how much they have meant to us…"

*0*0*

They stood before the small red and white Orthodox church which was bustling with excitement. There were many things going on this day, and with the ending of the opilio season the ships would soon be visible in the harbor. While the city of Unalaska was preparing for that, the Church of the Holy Ascension was preparing for something a little more mundane.

This national treasure, which had been restored years before, had been having small services for years. Today, they were planning for the wedding of one of their own. One of the local businessmen had returned with a fully grown daughter, and a new fiancé. He had asked the city council for the use of the church, and they had happily agreed. The fact that he was using his own pub for the reception, and any who wished were free to attend did not hurt his efforts to secure the perfect setting for this, the wedding of the year.

Harry admired the church building once more. Built in three sections, each reaching higher than the one before it, the white siding offset the light red roof on each of the two lower sections. Atop the middle section, which contained the sanctuary, was a small lookout topped with a green roof reminiscent of a Muslim mosque and a white cross. The third section, a tower, had the same topping as the main section. In back of the church was a wonderful rising landscape of sloping hills covered in a deep, white snow.

He turned and gazed along the small beach that he, Hermione and Ron stood on. Moving their way up the beach were some of the native wild horses that frequented the island. With their white manes a perfect contrast to their dark brown coats, he marveled at the fluid grace of these magnificent creatures.

The sound of a deep horn shook him from his reverie. Looking out over the harbor, Harry spotted two ships sailing in. One, a gleaming white trimmed in blue was leading a slightly older boat, this one in a dull black trimmed in red. The black ship looked to be very old, but still in proud shape.

A rolling chuckle made Harry turn to face his oldest male friend. Ron was laughing softly and pointing towards the boats. "What's so funny mate?" Harry asked.

"I was just thinking that it was a good luck sign, that ship," he replied. "I mean look at the name…"

Harry and Hermione followed Ron's finger out towards the older, black boat. There, proudly displayed across the bow, was the name: Wizard. Harry had to agree. He had lived here for the last eighteen and a half years. These people, tied to the sea as they were, definitely believed in omens. For Harry, this was an omen of the best kind. The sailors, and especially his friend Keith, the captain of the boat coming in, would appreciate the irony if only he could tell them.

Harry turned and put an arm around each of his friends. "You sure you're alright with this, Ron?" he asked.

"What, you mean with Neville being the best man? Sure, I understand. With Veate being the maid of honor, it makes sense so that Neville can go down the aisle with her." He glanced over at Hermione. "Besides, I've got a beautiful witch to walk down the aisle with myself. How can I go wrong with that? I kind of wish Ginny were here to see it though," he commented. Harry and Hermione both agreed with the sentiment.

"Come on then, we've got to get ready. I've got a beautiful lady to get married to," Harry said with a chuckle as he led the pair in through the gate and up the path to the church proper.

*0*0*

_**Two years later:**_

Harry Potter stood at the Apparition point waiting impatiently for the arrival of one of his dearest friends. He had once again taken up the full shroud that he was entitled to for this meeting. As always he found it amazing how well the fabric breathed, allowing for full comfort despite being completely covered. He loved the feel of the _kawa_ cloth. The fact that the garment was actually alive made him love it even more. This was a true magic, weaving the ties between nature and man even more closely together.

Next to him were his wife and daughter. Veate was in her Legionnaire dress robes, her first lieutenant bars proudly on display. She had proven herself quite an adept, mastering the ninety seven steps faster than anyone else. To say that the Siblings were drooling to get their hands on her would be an understatement.

Gabrielle had one arm around Harry, the other on her somewhat distended belly. It seemed that Veate's younger sister had just kicked. Harry smiled down at the sight. He was going to be a father again, and this time he was going to be there for everything.

It had been one of the few things that had come between him and his wife. It had been hard for him to accept that she had hidden her pregnancy from him all those years ago. She had made her sister take a wizard's vow to not reveal anything to anybody, and it had led to his not being there for a daughter that had grown up resenting and hating her father.

It had taken a long time, and a lot of heart-to-heart talks for Gabrielle to get Harry to understand why she had taken the steps that she had. For a very long time she had wallowed in guilt over what she had done. She had felt that she had taken advantage of a grieving Harry, and she felt that she could not bear to burden him with a child. She figured that he would hate her, thinking that she had only gotten pregnant to trap him into a relationship.

She had therefore fled the country, to have her daughter in the company of her parents. It had been the hardest decision of her young life, but it was one that she couldn't bring herself to regret, other than the pain that it now brought to Harry's life. She had given birth to Veate, and her daughter proved to be the greatest joy of her life.

Harry, for his part, had come to forgive Gabrielle. He couldn't find it in himself to hold a grudge. After all, everything had worked out in the end. Given that he would live for a very long time, and he had the majority of his life to devote to his new family.

He was stirred from his thoughts by the soft crack of an arriving witch. She apparated in with the grace that he had come to associated with her. The fact that she was also in full shroud did nothing to disguise her to him though. Even covered though she was, he recognized her eyes, her stance, and her aura immediately.

"Pen," he said softly. "Welcome home."

"Cloud?" she asked, though there could be little doubt considering the bright green eyes that twinkled out at her. "I don't understand?"

"I decided that a Sister needed to be greeted by her Brother. The Siblings insisted that I keep the shroud, and the title for future use. Tomorrow I go back to being simply Harry Potter, but for today I wanted to spend time honoring your achievement. It isn't an easy task, but you made it, and I'm really quite taken with your new look." He grinned easily, and she spotted the tell-tale crinkling around the eyes that gave it away. Like him, she had become very proficient in reading the person behind the shroud.

She came down off the apparition pad and gave Harry a hug. "I agree, tomorrow, since I'm here, I'll return to being Hermione Granger for a time. The shroud is always there when I need it."

She turned and gave a huge hug to Gabrielle and then turned to Veate. Taking in the uniform she smiled her approval. Her gaze wandered down the younger witch, and her eyes widened as she spotted her hands. "When?" she gasped with a squeal.

As she pulled Veate's left hand up to look at the ring on her finger the younger witch answered her question. "Two days ago," she answered. "Neville finally decided that we'd danced around each other enough and asked me to make it official. He wants me to be Lady Longbottom!"

"So you can see why I'm so happy to have you back," Harry said softly. "Neville is taking an extended leave to have his honeymoon and to take care of the business of his seat on the Wizengamot and the introduction of his new bride, and Padma going to be taking your place with the Siblings. She's going to be the new Diamond."

"So you need a second?" Hermione asked. "What about Ron?"

"Ron's not a teacher," Harry replied. "Besides, his job a the DMLE keeps him busy, and he's finally gotten back together with Lavender. Seems that they've been on-again, off-again for a few years now. While Gabrielle is an excellent administrator, she serves as our ambassador to the wizarding world and my personal assistant. Besides, with little Sophie on the way, she's going to have to take some time off as well. Veate's too junior for the post, and she's going to be gone with Neville. Besides, I need my best friend back."

"You've got her," she whispered. "I couldn't stay away…"

**Author's Note: **And there it is. I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I've enjoyed writing it. Thanks for all the reviews, and the great comments. Maybe someday I'll revisit the world I've created here, but for now it is on to finishing my other works. The first one up shall be "Harry Potter's Army: A General's Lament. I still have a long ways to go with that one. After that the responders to my poll have asked for "Harry Potter and the Shared Destiny". We'll have to see after that. Please take a moment and help my with Potter's Army by responding to my latest poll. I love you all...

Sharptooth


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